
Glass. 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 



, TFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



OF 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

TWENTIETH PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES. 



FULL AND ACCURATE DETAILS OF HIS EVENTFUL 

ADMINISTRATION, ASSASSINATION, LAST 

HOURS, DEATH, Etc. 

TOGETHER WITH 

NOTABLE EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES AND LETTERS. 



By E. E. BROWN. 



nmii 



BOSTON: 
D. L. GUEKNSEY, CORNHILL. 
1881. 



1 
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COFnUGBT, 1881, 

tin D. Lothsop & Go. 



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DEDICATION. 

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Au<1 L -.JXiili." 



COKTEKTS. 



Chapter Pagb 

I. BrRTH 11 

II. Boyhood 21 

III. Strength of Character 25 

IV. Life on the Canal 30 

V. Severe Illness 36 

VI. Religion 42 

VII. First Oration .48 

VIII. Hiram Institute 53 

IX. Ready for College 58 

X. Marriage 67 

XL Elected State Senator 74 

XII. Appointed a Colonel 80 

XIII. Opening of Hostilities 93 

XIV. Address to his Soldiers 100 

XV. Battle of Shiloh 110 

XVI. Battle of Chickamauga 115 

XVII. Elected to Congress 125 

XVIII. Assassination of Lincoln 138 

XIX. Home in Washington 147 

XX. Tide of Unpopularity 154 

XXI. Credit Mobilier • 160 

XXII. The Farm at Mentor 167 

XXIII. Republican Convention at Chicago . . .174 

XXIV. Speech of Acceptance 187 

XXV. Return Home 196 

XXVI. Elected President 201 

XXVII. Inauguration Day 207 



VI 


CONTENTS. 




XXVIII. 


Assassination 


. 214 


XXIX. 


Examination op the Wounds . . 


. 218 


XXX. 


The Assassin 


. 227 


XXXI. 






XXXII. 


Writes a Letter to his Mother 


. 238 


XXXIII. 


Arrival at Long Branch . . 


. 245 


XXXIV. 






XXXV. 






XXXVI. 


Services at Elberon „ 


. 266 


XXXVII. 






XXXVIII. 






XXXIX. 


Sunday preceding the Burial . 


. 287 


XL. 


National Day of Mourning 


. 290 


XLI. 






XLII. 


Garfield Memorial in Boston . 


. 306 


XLIII. 






XLIV. 






XLV. 


Reminiscences of Hiram Institute . 


. 353 


XL VI. 


Garfield as a Freemason . . . 


. 360 


XLVII. 


Poems 


. 368 


XLVIII. 






XLIX. 







INTRODUCTION. 

BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D. D. 

More eloquent voices for Christ and the gospel have 
never come from the grave of a dead President than 
those which we hear from the tomb of our lamented 
chief magistrate. 

Twenty-six years ago this summer a company of 
college students had gone to the top of Greylock Moun- 
tain, in Western Massachusetts, to spend the night. A 
very wide outlook can be gained from that summit. 
But if you will stand there with that little company 
to-day, you can see farther than the bounds of Massa- 
chusetts or the bounds of New England, or the bounds 
of the Union. James A. Garfield is one of that band 
of students; and as the evening shades gather, he rises 
up among the group and says, " Classmates, it is my 
habit to read a portion of God's Word before retiring 
to rest. Will you permit me to read aloud?" And 
then taking in his hand a pocket Testament, he reads 
in that clear, strong voice a chapter of Holy Writ, and 
calls upon a brother student to offer prayer. "How 
far the little candle throws its beams ! " It required 
real principle to take that stand even in such a com- 
pany. Was that candle of the Lord afterward put out 
amid the dampening and unfriendly influences of a long 
political life ? It would not be strange. Many a Chris- 
tian man has had his religious testimony smothered 
amid the stifling and vitiated air of party politics, till 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

instead of a clear light, it has given out only the flicker 
and foulness of a " smoking wick." 

But pass on for a quarter of a century. The young 
student has become a man. He has been in contact for 
years with the corrupting influences of political life. 
Let us see where he stands now. In the great Repub- 
lican Convention at Chicago he is a leading figure. 
The meetings have been attended with unprecedented 
excitement through the week. Sunday has come, and 
such is the strain of rivalry between contending fac- 
tions that most of the politicians spend the entire day 
in pushing the interests of their favorite candidates. 
But on that Lord's day morning Mr. Garfield is seen 
quietly wending his way to the house of God. His 
absence being remarked upon to him next day, he said, 
in reply, "I have more confidence in the prayers to 
God which ascended in the churches yesterday, than in 
all the caucusing which went on in the hotels." 

He had great interests at stake as the promoter 
of the nomination of a favorite candidate. When 
so much was pending, might he not be allowed to 
use the Sunday for defending his interest ? So many 
would have reasoned. But no ! amid the clash of con- 
tending factions and the tumult of conflicting interests, 
there is one politician that heard the Word of God 
sounding in his ear: " Six days shalt thou labor and 
do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the 
Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work." 
And, at the bidding of the Divine command, his con- 
science marches him away to the house of God. Not, 
indeed, to enjoy the luxury of hearing some famous 
preacher, or of listening to some superb singing ; but 
he goes to one of the obscurest and humblest churches 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

in the city, because there is where he belongs, and that 
is the church which he has covenanted to walk with, 
as a disciple of Jesus Christ. "How far" again "that 
little candle threw its beams ! " It was a little thing, 
but it was the index of a principle, an index that 
pointed the whole American people upward when they 
heard of it. Here was a man who did not carry a 
pocket-conscience — a bundle of portable convictions 
tied up with a thread of expediency. Nay ! here was 
a man whose conscience carried him — his master, not 
his menial; his sovereign, not his servant. 

And when, during the last days in his home at Men- 
tor, just before going to Washington to assume his 
office, he was entertaining some political friends at tea, 
he did not forego evening prayers, for fear he might 
be charged with cant, but, according to his custom, 
drew his family together and opened the Scriptures 
and bowed in prayer in the midst of his guests. And 
his was a religious principle that found expression in 
action as well as in prayer. A lady residing in Wash- 
ington told us that while a member of the House of 
Representatives, he was accustomed to work faithfully 
in the Sunday-school, and that among his last acts was 
the recruiting of a class of young men and teaching 
them in the Bible. We know from his pastor that he 
was not too busy to be found often in the social meet- 
ings of the church, nor too great to be above praying 
and exhorting in the little group of Christians with 
whom he met. A practical Christian, did we say? 
He must have been a spiritual Christian also. There 
is one address of his in Congress that made a great 
impression on our mind as we read it. He was deliv- 
ering a brief eulogy on some deceased Senator — X 



X INTRODUCTION. 

think it was Senator Ferry, He spoke of him as a 
Christian, not a formalist, but a devout and godly dis- 
ciple of Christ. And then he spoke of the rest into 
which he had entered, and quoted with great effect 
that beautiful hymn of Bonar's : — 

"Beyond the smiling and the weeping - , 
I shall be soon. 
Beyond the waking and the sleeping, 
Beyond the sowing and the reaping, 
I shall be soon. 

Love, rest, and home, sweet home, 
Lord, tarry not, but come." 

And taking the key from these last words, he said : 
"Yes, when the Lord comes there will be no more 
weeping, no more soitoav,, no more death. '■Even so 
come. Lord Jesus? " 

We believe that only a man of real spiritual, evan- 
gelical faith could have uttered those words. And 
when we think how rarely such a man has filled the 
presidential chair, we feel ovenvhelmed at the loss. 

Let us praise God that for once we have had a Presi- 
dent who could shine in the most illustrious position in 
the nation, and yet light up for us the humblest walks 
of Christian obedience. Here is one who ruled and 
who served ; who was a leader of the people and a fol- 
lower of Christ. The seat where he sat as ruler of 
fifty millions will speak to generations yet to come, tell- 
ing them how righteousness exalteth a ruler ; and the 
little stream where he was baptized will tell perpet- 
ually, as it flows on, how it "becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness." 



LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 



CHAPTER I. 



The "Great Heart of the People."— Bereaved of their Chief. — Uni- 
versal Mourning. — Wondering Query of Foreign Nations. — 
Humble Birth in Log Cabin. — The Frontier Settlements in Ohio. 
— Untimely Death of Father. — Struggles of the Family. 

M TJie great heart of the people ivill not let the 
old soldier die!" 

So murmured the brave, patient sufferer in his 
sleep that terrible July night, when the whole 
nation, stricken down with grief and consternation 
at the assassin's deed, watched, waited, prayed — 
as one man — for the life of their beloved President. 

And all through those weary eighty days that 
followed, of alternate hope and fear, how truly the 
great, loving, sympathetic heart of the people 
did battle, with millions of unseen weapons, for 
the strong, heroic spirit that never faltered, never 
gave up "the one chance," even while he whispered : 
" God's will be done ; I am ready to go if my time 
has come." 

Party differences were all forgotten ; there was 
no longer any North or South — only one common 



12 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

brotherhood, one great, sorrowing household 
watching with tender solicitude beside the death- 
bed of their loved one. 

How anxiously the varying bulletins were 
studied ! How eagerly the faintest glimmer of 
hope was seized ! And when, on that never-to- 
be-forgotten anniversary of Chickamauga's battle, 
the midnight bells tolled out their solemn requiem, 

"The nation sent 
Like Egypt, in her tenth and final blow, 
Through all the land a loud and bitter cry ; 
And felt, like her, as o'er her dead she bent, 
There is in every home a present woe! " 

And yet, with renewed fervor, we repeat those 
pathetic words : 

" The great heart of the people ivill not let the 
old soldier die!" 

While bowing reverently, submissively to the 
decree of the Almighty Disposer of human affairs, 
the nation feels that *' no canon of earth or 
Heaven can forbid the enshrining of his manly 
virtues and grand character, so that after-genera- 
tions may profit by the contemplation of them." 

A halo of immortal glory already gathers around 
the name of James A. Garfield. 

The remembrance of his brave, self-forgetting 
endurance of pain, his strong, indomitable will, 
his tender regard for his aged mother, his simple, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 13 

unaffected piety, his cheerful resignation, will 
never be effaced from the heart of the people. 

And when expressions of sympathy and regret 
came to America from all parts of the world, the 
wondering query arose : 

" How is it that republican manners and repub- 
lican institutions can produce such a king among 
men as President Garfield?" 

Let us go back to that humble log cabin in the 
wilds of Ohio where, fifty years ago, a little fair- 
haired, blue-eyed boy was born. 

It is a bleak, bitter day in November, and the 
whistling of the winds through the crevices, 
mingles with the howl of hungry wolves in the 
woods close by. 

But the new baby finds a warm welcome waiting 
him in that rough cabin home.. The mother's love 
is fully reflected in the honest face of the great, 
warm-hearted father, as he folds the little stranger 
in his strong arms, and declares he is " worth his 
weight in o;old." 

Thomas, a boy of nine years, with Mehetabel 
and Mary, the two little sisters, look wonderingly 
upon their baby brother, and then run out to 
spread the good news through the neighborhood. 

In those early days the frontier settlements 
seemed like one family, so interested were all in 
the joys and sorrows of each. 

Eighteen months later, when the brave, strong 



14 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

father was cut down in the midst of his work, a 
circle of true-hearted, sympathizing friends stood, 
like a body-guard, 'around the little family. 

One of those dreaded forest fires had been 
raging for days through the tract of country ad- 
joining the Garfield farm. With the aid of his 
older children, Mehetabel and Thomas, the father 
had at last checked the flames, but, sitting down 
to rest by the open door, he took a severe cold 
which brought on congestion of the throat. 

Before a physician could be called he was past 
all human aid, and, looking wistfully upon his 
children and heart-broken wife, he said, with 
dying breath, — 

" I am going to leave you, Eliza. I have 
planted four saplings in these woods, and I must 
now leave them to your care." 

The blue-eyed baby, who bore his father's name, 
could not understand the sorrowful faces about 
him, and, toddling up to the bedside, he put his 
little hands on the cold lips, and called " Papa ! 
Papa ! " till the weeping mother bore him out of 
the room. 

" What will become of those poor, fatherless 
children?" said one neighbor to another. 

" It is a strange providence," was the reply. 
" The mother is too young and too frail to carry on 
the farm alone. She will have to sell everything, 
and find homes for the children among her friends." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 15 

But Eliza Garfield was not the weak, dependent 
woman they had imagined. Moreover, she had 
one brave little helper close at hand. 

" Don't cry, mother dear," said Thomas, making 
a great effort to keep back his own tears. "I am 
ten years old now, you know. I will take care 
of you. I am big enough to plough and plant, 
and cut the wood and milk the cows. Don't let us 
give up the farm. I will work ever so hard if^we 
can only keep together ! " 

Noble little fellow ! No wonder the mother's 
heart <n-ew lio-hter as she watched his earnest 
face. 

"You are not strong enough, dear child, to do 
all that," she said, " but God helping us, we will 
keep together. I will sell off part of the farm to 
pay our debts, and we shall then have thirty acres 
left, which will be quite enough for you and me to 
take care of." 

It was now late in the spring, but Thomas man- 
aged to sow the wheat, plant the corn and pota- 
toes, and with the help of a kind neighbor complete 
the little barn his father had begun to build. 

In cultivating the ground, his mother and sisters 
were always ready to help, and together they 
split the rails, and drove the stakes for the heavy 
fence around the wheat-field. 

With such examples of untiring industry and 
perseverance constantly before his eyes, it is no 



16 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

wonder the restless baby brother"soon tried to 
lend a helping hand. 

"Me do it too," he would cry, when Thomas 
took down the rake or the hoe, and started off for 
his work in the fields. 

"One of these days, Jimmy," the boy-farmer 
would reply, with a merry smile : though even 
then he could not help hoping there might be 
better things in store for the little brother he loved 
so dearly. 

Walking all the way to Cleveland, Thomas 
secures a little job, and brings home his first earn- 
ings, with a bounding heart. 

" Now Jimmy can have a pair of shoes," he says 
to his mother who cannot keep back her tears as 
she looks at his own bare feet. 

The old cobbler comes and boards at the cabin 
while he makes the little shoes, and when they are 
completed it is hard to tell which is the happier 
boy, — Thomas or little Jimmy. 

Four years after the father's death, a school- 
house is built a mile and a half away. 

"Jimmy and the girls must go," says Thomas. 

"Yes," replies the mother, "but I wish you 
could go, too." 

" It wouldn't do for me to leave the farm, 
mother dear," says the noble boy. " One of these 
days, perhaps I can study at home." 

The mile and a half walk to the school-house 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 17 

was a long, hard pull for little Jimmy, in spite of 
those new shoes ; and many a time Mehetabel 
might have been seen, carrying him back and 
forth on her broad shoulders. 

It was a happy day for all the children when 
the new log school-house was put up on one cor- 
ner of the Garfield farm. The land had been 
given by Mrs. Garfield, and the neighbors clubbed 
together and built the house, which was only 
twenty feet square, with a slab roof, a puncheon 
floor, and log benches without backs. 

The master was a young man from New Hamp- 
shire. He boarded with Mrs. Garfield, and be- 
tween him and little James a warm friendship was 
soon established. 

The bright active child was never tired of ask- 
ing questions. 

" He will make his mark in the world, one of 
these days — you may take my word for it !" ex- 
claimed the teacher, as he recounted James' won- 
derful progress at school. 

The happy mother never forgot these words, 
and determined to give her little boy every possi- 
ble advantage. 

But the Ohio schools in those days were very 
poor. The three "R's," with spelling and geogra- 
phy, were the only branches taught, and oftentimes 
the teachers knew but little more than the scholars. 

As soon as James could read, he eagerly de- 



18 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

voured every book that came within his reach. 
The family library comprised not more than half 
a dozen volumes, but among these, Weems' " Life 
of Marion" and Grimshaw's "Napoleon" were 
especial favorites with the eager enthusiastic boy. 
Every night the mother would read to her 
children from her old, well-worn Bible : and 
oftentimes James would puzzle his little playmates 
with unexpected scripture questions. His wonder- 
ful memory held a strange variety of information 
in its tenacious grasp. He delighted to hear his 
mother read poetry, and would often commit long 
passages by heart. His vivid imagination peopled 
the old orchard with all sorts of strange characters. 
Each tree was named after some noted Indian 
chief, or some favorite hero he had read about ; 
and from a high ledge of rocks in the neighbor- 
hood, he would sometimes deliver long harangues 
to his imaginary audiences. Thomas watched the 
progress of his little brother with fatherly pride 
and admiration, and James looked up to him with 
loving confidence. 

He could now help about the farm in many 
ways, and when Thomas got an opportunity to 
work out and earn a few extra pennies, James 
would look after the stock, chop the wood, hoe 
the corn, and help his mother churn and milk. 

" One of these days, James," she said to him, 
as he was working diligently by her side, " I ex- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 19 

pect Thomas will go out into the world to earn his 
living and then you will have to take his place 
here on the farm." 

"But, how soon will that be, mother?" asked 
the little fellow, who felt then that he could not 
possibly get along without his big brother. 

" Not until Thomas is twenty-one, and then you 
will be twelve years old — older by two years than 
Thomas was when your father died." , 

"I wish I could be as good a former as he," 
said James ; " but I think I would rather be a car- 
penter." 

" And I would rather have you a teacher or a 
preacher," said his mother ; " but we must take 
our work just as Providence gives it to us, and 
farming, my boy, comes first to you." 

It was a trying day to the whole family when 
Thomas left the little home to work on a clearing, 
"way off in Michigan." He would be gone six 
months, at least, and there was very little com- 
munication in those days between Ohio and the 
farther west. 

" I wish you could have found work nearer 
home," said the fond mother. 

" But I shall earn higher wages there — twelve 
dollars a month," — answered the self-forgetting 
son ; " and, when I get back, I shall have money 
enough to build you a frame house." 

The little log cabin was fast coming to pieces, 



20 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and for five years Thomas had been cutting and 
seasoning lumber for the new house, but they had 
never been able to hire a carpenter to put it up. 

James tried very hard to fill his brother's place, 
but he could never throw his whole soul into farm- 
ing as Thomas had done. He read and studied 
all the time he could get out of working hours, 
and his thirst for knowledge was constantly in- 
creasing. But how was he to procure the educa- 
tion for which he longed ? 

" Providence will open the way," said the good 
mother; "though how and when I cannot tell." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. "21 



CHAPTER n. 

Boyhood of James. — Attempts at Carpentry. — First Earnings. — His 
Thirst for Knowledge. — The Garfield Coat-of-Arms. — Ances- 
try, etc. 

True to his promise, Thomas returned in a few 
months with seventy-five dollars in gold, which 
seemed a great sum to the little family. 

" Now you shall have the new house, mother," 
he exclaimed ; and it was not many days after, that 
the carpenter was hired and the work begun. 

James watched the building with keen, observ- 
ant eyes. Before the house was completed he 
had learned a good part of the trade and practised 
it besides. 

M I think I'll have to employ you when I want 
an extra hand," laughed the good-natured mechanic, 
as he noticed how cleverly James used the mallet, 
chisel and plane. 

" I wish you would ; I like the trade," exclaimed 
the boy, with sudden earnestness. 

After the family had moved into the new house, 
which consisted of three rooms below and two 
above, Thomas went back to his work in Michi- 
gan, and James returned to his labor on the farm. 



22 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP 

" But the boy's restless spirit longed for a wider 
field. If he could only earn a little money, per- 
haps he would be able to buy a few books. 

Passing the carpenter's shop one day, he saw a 
pile of boards at the door waiting to be planed. 
He stepped inside and asked for the job, which 
was readily given him. 

" I will give you a cent a board," said the car- 
penter, "for I know you will do them well." 

'- How soon do you want them done ? "' asked 
James. 

" Oh ! it doesn't matter," answered the carpen- 
ter ; " take your own time for them." 

" All right ! " said the boy, " I'll begin early to- 
morrow morning, just as soon as I get through 
with the chores on the farm." 

Before night he had planed a hundred boards, 
and each board was twelve feet long ! 

He asked the carpenter to come and count them, 
lest he had made a mistake. 

" That is too hard a day's work for a little fellow 
like you," exclaimed the astonished man ; " but 
here are a hundred pennies, as I promised you." 

This was the first money that James had ever 
earned, and it was with a proud, happy heart he 
emptied his load of coppers that night into his 
mother's lap. 

It was not a difficult matter to find jobs after 
that. A boy who could plane a hundred boards 




Earning his First Dollar. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 23 

in a day was just the sort of help the enterprising 
carpenter wanted. Not long after, he engaged 
James to help him put up a barn, paying him 
about twenty dollars for the job. 

By this time James had learned about all he 
could in the district schools. He had performed 
problems in arithmetic that puzzled his teachers, 
and could repeat by heart the greater part of his 
reading books. A copy of " Josephus " came into 
his hands, and he read it over and over until 
long passages Avere indelibly impressed upon his 
memory. 

" Robinson Crusoe," " Alonzo and Melissa," he 
devoured that winter with all a boy's enthusiasm, 
and the little home in Orange seemed smaller to 
him than ever. Pie longed to <m out into the 
world and find a wider sphere of labor. The 
blood of his old Welsh ancestors was burning in 
his veins. He had often looked at the old Garfield 
coat of arms, which his father had kept with loyal 
pride, and wondered what it meant. Now he 
seemed to understand, as if by a sudden intuition, 
the crimson bars on the golden shield, with that 
strong arm, just above, wielding a sword, whose 
motto read, "In cruce vinco." 

"Tell me about my great-great-grandfathers," 
he said one day to his mother, as they were sitting- 
together by the open fire. 

" Your father's family came from Wales," she 



24 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

answered, " and the first James Garfield was one of 
the brave knights of Gaerfili Castle. But that is 
going a long way back. I know your father used 
to say he was more proud of having an ancestor 
who had fought in the Revolutionary "War, and 
that was Solomon Garfield, your own great-grand- 
father." 

" How splendid it is to be a soldier ! " exclaimed 
James. 

" Yes," said his mother, " but there are many 
grand victories won in the world besides those 
upon the battle-field." 

And just here it may be said that it was not only 
from his father's side that James Garfield inherited 
so many sterling traits of character. His mother 
is a descendant of Maturin Ballou, a French 
Huguenot, who joined the colony of Roger 
Williams, and settled in Cumberland, Rhode Island. 
From this pioneer preacher, a great many eminent 
men have sprung, among them the celebrated Ho- 
sea Ballou, a cousin of Eliza Ballou Garfield. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 25 



CHAPTER III. 

Life at the " Black-Salter's " — James wants to to go Sea — His mother 
will not give her Consent — Hires out as a Woodchopper — His 
Powerful Physique — His Strength of Character. 

About ten miles from the little settlement at 
Orange, and not far from Cleveland, was a large 
potash factory, owned by a certain Mr. Barton. 
The neighboring farmers, when they cleared their 
lands, would draw the refuse logs and branches 
into a great pile and burn them. The ashes thus 
collected, they sold to this Mr. Barton, who went 
by the name of " black-salter," because jthe pot- 
ash he manufactured was called in its crude state, 
"black salts." At one time he needed a new shed 
where the ashes were leached, and James assisted 
the carpenter who put it up. 

The bright, industrious lad pleased the old 
black-salter, and he offered him fourteen dollars a 
month, if he would come and work in his ashery. 

This was two dollars more than Thomas was 
earning "away off in Michigan," and James was 
greatly delighted at the prospect of earning one 
hundred and sixty-eight dollars a year ! 

It was not, however, just the sort of work he 



26 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

would have chosen ; and the mother dreaded for 
her son the rough companionship of the black- 
salters. 

But James did not associate with the rude, 
coarse men out of working-hours. Their profanity 
shocked him ; and he gladly turned to the books 
he found on an upper shelf at Barton's house. 

As might have been expected, however, these 
books were very different from any he had read 
before. "Marryatt's Novels," "Jack Halyard," 
"Lives of Eminent Criminals," and "The Pirate's 
Own Book," were in fact more dangerous com- 
panions for him than the coarse, brutal men would 
have been. The printed page carried Avith it an 
authority that the excited boy did not stop to 
question. He would sit up all night to follow in 
imagination some reckless buccaneer in his wild 
exploits, till at last an insatiable longing to be a 
sailor fired his brain. 

"A life on the ocean wave" seemed to him, at 
that time, the " ultima thule " of all his dreams. 
He longed to see some more of the world, and to 
the inexperienced lad this seemed the quickest and 
surest way. 

One day, he happened to hear Mr. Barton's 
daughter speak of him in a sneering tone as her 
father's " hired servant." This was more than the 
high spirit of James could bear. Years after, he 
said to a friend, — 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 27 

" That girl's cutting remark proved a great bless- 
ing to me. I was too much annoyed by it to sleep 
that night ; I lay awake under the rafters of that 
old farm-house, and vowed, again and again, that 
I ivould be somebody ; that the time should come 
when that girl would not call me a 'hired servant.' " 

The next morning James informed his employer 
that he had concluded to give up the black-salter's 
business. 

In vain Mr. Barton urged him to stay, by the 
offer of higher washes. 

Much as he needed the money, the boy was 
determined to find some other and more congenial 
way of earning a living. If he could only go to 
sea ! 

Fortunately none of the family favored this wild 
scheme of James. 

His mother declared that she could never give 
her consent. " If you ever go to sea, James," she 
said in her firm, decided tones, "remember it will 
be entirely against my will. Do not mention the 
subject to me again." 

James was a dutiful son. He did not want to 
oppose his mother's will, and yet he did want to 
go to sea. 

A few days after he heard that his uncle, who 
was clearing a large tract of forest near Cleveland, 
wanted to hire some wood-choppers. After talk- 
ing the matter over with his mother, he decided to 



28 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

offer his services. He could not be idle, and 
wood-chopping was certainly preferable to leach- 
ing ashes. 

His sister Mehetabel, who was now married, 
lived near this uncle, so James could make his 
home with her. 

Altogether the plan pleased Mrs. Garfield, al- 
though she was loath to part with her boy, even 
for a few months. 

James engaged to cut a hundred cords of wood 
for his uncle, at the rate of fifty cents a cord, and 
declared he could easily cut two cords a day. 

Now it so happened that the edge of the forest 
where James' work lay overlooked the blue waters 
of Lake Erie. With stories from "The Pirate's 
Own Book" still haunting his brain, it was not 
strange that he often stopped in his work to count 
the sail, and watch the changing color of the beau- 
tiful waters. 

By and by he noticed that the old German by 
his side, who seemed to wield his axe so slowly, 
was getting ahead of him in the amount of work 
accomplished. He began to realize that he was 
wasting a deal of time by these " sea dreams," and 
resolutely turned his back upon the fascinating 
waters. 

It was not so easy, however, to drive out of his 
mind the bewitching sea-faring tales he had read ; 
and when those hundred cords of wood were cut, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 29 

he returned home with the old longing to be a 
sailor only intensified. 

He said nothing, for he did not wish to grieve 
his mother, and as it was now the last week in 
June he hired himself out to a farmer for the sum- 
mer months, to help in haying and harvesting. 

James was now a strong, muscular boy in his 
teens. He possessed, naturally, a fine constitu- 
tion, and his simple life and vigorous exercise in 
the open air had greatly enhanced his powers of 
endurance. Whatever he undertook he was deter- 
mined to carry through successfully. His strong, 
indomitable will conquered every difficulty, while 
his stern integrity was a constant safeguard. 



30 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTEE IV. 

James still longs for the Sea. — Experience with a Drunken Captaifl 
— Change of Base. — Life on the Canal. 

James went on with his work at home, attending 
school in the winter, reading whatever books he 
could find, and taking odd jobs in carpentry to 
add to the family income. 

His heart, however, was still on the sea. 

At last he said to his mother : 

"If I should be captain of a ship some day, 
you wouldn't mind that, would you?" 

Now Mrs. Garfield, like a wise mother, had 
been studying her restless boy and was not unpre- 
pared for this returning desire on his part "to 
follow the sea." 

" You might try a trip on Lake Erie," she 
replied, " and see how you like it ; but if you 
want to be ' somebody,' as you say, I would look 
higher than to a sea-captain's position." 

James hardly heard his mother's last words, so 
delighted was he to have this unexpected permis- 
sion. 

He packed up his things as quickly as possible 
and walked the whole distance to Cleveland. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 31 

Boarding the first schooner he found lying at 
the wharf, he asked one of the crew if there was 
any chance for another hand on board. 

" If you can wait a little," was the answer, " the 
captain will soon be up from the hold." 

James had a very exalted idea of this important 
personage ; he expected to see a fine, noble-look- 
ing man such as he had read about in his books. 

Suddenly, he heard a fearful noise below, fol- 
lowed by terrible oaths. Stepping aside to let the 
drunken man pass him, he was greeted by the 
gruff question, — 

" What dyer want here, yer green land-lubber, 
yer?" 

"I was waiting to see the captain," replied James. 

"Wall, don't yer know him when yer do see 
him?" he shouted. " Get off my ship, I tell yer, 
double quick ! " James needed no second invita- 
tion. Could this besotted brute be a specimen 
of the monarchs of the sea? The boy was so 
shocked and disgusted that he made no further 
effort to find a place on board ship. He began 
to think his story-books might be a little different 
from the reality in other things as well as captains ! 

Wandering through the city, he came to the 
canal which at that time was a great thorough- 
fore between Lake Erie and the Ohio river. One 
of the boats, called the " Evening Star," was tied 
to the bank, and James was greatly surprised to 



32 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

find that the captain of it was a cousin of his, 
Am os Letcher. 

"Well, James, what are you doing here?" said 
the canal-boat captain. 

" Hunting for work," replied the boy. 

" What kind of work do you want ? " 

"Anything to make a living. I came here to 
ship on the lake, but they bluffed me off and called 
me a country greenhorn." 

"You'd better try your hand on smaller waters 
first," said his cousin ; " I should like to have you 
work for me, but I've nothing better to offer you 
than a driver's berth at twelve dollars a month." 

" I must do something," answered James, " and if 
that is the best you can offer me, I'll take the team." 

"It was imagination that took me upon the 
canal," he said, years after ; and it is easy to see 
how fascinating the trips from Cleveland to Pitts- 
burgh seemed at that time to the inquiring boy. 

The "Evening Star" had a capacity of seventy 
tons, and it was manned, as most of the canal- 
boats were, with two steersmen, two drivers, a 
bowsman, and a cook. The bowsman stood in the 
forward part of the boat, made ready the locks, 
and threw the bow-line around the snubbing-post. 
The drivers had two mules each, which were 
driven tandem, and, after serving a number of 
hours on the tow-path, they took turns in going 
on board with their mules. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 33 

James had hardly taken his place behind " Kit 
and Nance," as his team was called, when he heard 
the captain call out, — 

"Careful, Jim, there's a boat coming." The 
boy had seen it, and was trying to pass it to the 
best of his ability. But his inexperience and 
haste occasioned a sudden tightening of the reins, 
and, before any one quite knew what had hap- 
pened, both driver and mules were jerked into the 
canal. For a few seconds it seemed as if they 
would go to the bottom, but James was equal to the 
emergency, and, getting astride the forward mule, 
kept his head above water until rescue came. 
This was his initiation in canal-boat driving, and 
the adventure was a standing joke among his com- 
rades for a long time. 

When they came to the "Eleven-Mile Lock," 
the captain ordered a change of teams, and James 
went on board with his mules. 

Letcher, who is still living in Bryan, Ohio, gives 
the following account of his talk with the boy as 
they were passing the locks : 

" I thought I'd sound Jim on education — in the 
rudiments of geography, arithmetic and grammar. 
For I was just green enough in those days to im- 
agine I knew it all. I had been teaching school 
for three months in the backwoods of Steuben 
County, Indiana. So I asked him several ques- 
tions, and he answered them all ; and then he asked 



34 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

me several that I could not answer. I told him he 
had too sfood a head to be a common canal-hand." 

One evening when the " Evening Star " was 
drawing near the twenty-one locks of Akron, the 
captain sent his bowsman to make the first lock 
ready. Just as he got there, a voice hailed him 
through the darkness. It was from a boat above 
that had reached the locks first. 

" We are just around the bend," said her bows- 
man, "all ready to enter." 

" Can't help it ! " shouted the bowsman of the 
"Evening Star," with a volley of oaths; "we've 
got to hev this lock first ! " 

The captain was so used to these contests on 
the canal that he did not often interfere, but it 
was a new experience to James. He tapped his 
cousin Amos on the shoulder, and said, — 

" Does that lock belong to us ? " 

" Well, I suppose not, according to law," was 
the answer, " but we will have it, anyhow." 

" No ! we will not ! " he exclaimed. 

" But why ? " said the captain. 

" Why ? " he repeated, " because it don't belong 
to us." 

Struck with the boy's sense of right, and 
ashamed of his own carelessness, the captain called 
out to his men, — 

" Hold on, hold on ! Let them have the lock." 

When the boatmen knew that their fi<rht had 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 35 

been prevented by James's interference they were 
greatly incensed, and began to call him " coward" 
and all sorts of derogatory names. 

The boy only smiled ; he knew he could vindi- 
cate his rights when the time came, and it was not 
long before he had an opportunity. 

The boat had just reached Beaver, and James 
was on deck with his setting-pole against his 
shoulder ; a sudden lurch wrenched it from him 
and threw it upon one of the boat-hands, who was 
standing close by. 

" Beg pardon, Dave," said the boy quickly ; " it 
was an accident." 

The great, rough man, however, would take no 
apology, and rushed upon James with clenched 
fists. A fight seemed inevitable, but with one 
well-directed blow, the boy of sixteen threw down 
his burly antagonist, and held him fast. 

" Pound him, James ! Give him a good thrash- 
ing ! " exclaimed the captain. 

"Xot when he is down and in my power," 
said the boy. Then, letting his conquered foe 
rise, he said, — 

" Come, Dave, give us your hand ! " and from 
that time forth they were the best of friends. 

" He's dif rent from the rest on us — that's sar- 
tin — but he's a good un, got a mighty sight o' 
pluck," said the whole crew. 



36 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER V. 

Narrow Escape from Drowning. — Return Home. — Severe Illness. — 
James determines to fit Himself for a Teacher. — Geauga Semi- 
nary. — Personal Appearance. — Dr. Robinson's Verdict. 

One dark, stormy night, just as the " Evening 
Star" was leaving a long reach of slack water, 
James was called out of his berth to tend the bow- 
line. As he began to uncoil the rope, it caught on 
the edge of the deck ; he pulled several times be- 
fore he could extricate it, but suddenly it gave way 
with such force as to throw him headlong into the 
water. 

The whole crew were soundly sleeping, the boat 
glided over him, and as he could not swim he felt 
there was no hope. Suddenly he caught hold of 
something hard ; it was the rope which had become 
entangled in a crevice of the deck and become so 
tight that it was an easy matter to climb up by it 
into the boat. 

As he stood there in his dripping clothes, res- 
cued from a watery grave, he took the rope and 
tried to see how it happened to catch in the crev- 
ice. Six hundred times he threw it, but it would 
not kink in the same manner again. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 37 

N No one but God could have saved my life by 
such a thread as that ! " he exclaimed, and then 
he began to wonder if he could not make a better 
use of his miraculously-spared life than by spend- 
ing it upon a canal-boat. 

A severe attack of chills and fever followed 
this night's drenching and exposure. He thought 
of his mother and her hopes for him, and made 
up his mind to return home as soon as he was 
able. 

His mother was overjoyed when, a few weeks 
later, he stood before her and told her of his 
changed plans, But again the malaria asserted 
its sway over him, and for a long time he lay be- 
tween life and death. It was six months before 
he was able to do anything, and then to his 
mother's delight he told her he was going to fit 
himself to be a teacher. 

A young man named Samuel Bates (now a 
clergyman in Madison, Ohio,) had charge that 
winter of the district-school in Orange. He was 
a frequent visitor at Mrs. Garfield's, and between 
James and himself there sprang up a warm friend- 
ship. The young teacher had attended the Ge- 
auga Seminary in Chester, and was full of his 
school experiences. He told James how econom- 
ically one could live, by clubbing together with 
other students, and the result was that in the fol- 
lowing spring, Garfield and his two cousins, Wil- 



38 LITE AND PUBLIC SEEVICES. 

Ham and Henry Boynton, went to Chester and 
rented a room just across the street from the 
seminary. The house belonged to a poor widow, 
who agreed to look after their room and do their 
washing for a small sum. They bought their own 
cooking-stove, and immediately set up house- 
keeping, James had only eleven dollars in his 
pocket, but he hoped to earn more before that 
was gone. 

The academy was a plain wooden building of 
three stories, and could accommodate about a 
hundred pupils. The library connected with it 
contained a hundred and fifty volumes, which 
seemed to James a perfect mine of wealth. 
Among the pupils at that time attending the 
academy was a studious young girl by the name 
of Lucretia Rudolph, but the boys and girls sel- 
dom saw each other except in their classes, and 
James was so shy and awkward he did not care 
much for the society of young ladies. He watched 
Miss Rudolph, however, with quiet admiration. 
Her sweet face, her pleasant manners, and fine 
scholarship, made her a universal favorite, and 
little by little a hearty friendship sprang up be- 
tween the two students who had so many aims in 
common. 

The principal of the academy at that time was 
an eccentric old gentleman by the name of Daniel 
Branch. His wife, who was his chief assistant 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. o9 

and equally eccentric, was trying to introduce 
into the school a grammar of her own construc- 
tion, which was totally at variance with all other 
systems. For instance, she insisted that but 
should be parsed as a verb, in the imperative 
mood, with the sense of to be out; she also de- 
clared that and was another verb in the impera- 
tive mood, and meant add! 

Young Garfield, who had been thoroughly drilled 
in Kirkman's Grammar at the district school, con- 
stantly contended against these new ideas which, 
to his clear, well-balanced brain, presented noth- 
ing but absurdity. It is to be hoped that the 
other scholars followed his sage example, and that 
Branch's idiosyncrasy was soon banished from the 
school curriculum. 

James' personal appearance at this time is thus 
described by one of his friends : 

"His clear, blue eyes, and free, open counten- 
ance were remarkably prepossessing. His height 
was exaggerated by the coarse, satinet trousers he 
wore, which were far outgrown, and reached only 
half-way down the tops of his cowhide boots. It 
was his one suit, and the threadbare coat was so 
short in the sleeves that his long arms had a singu- 
larly awkward look. His coarse, slouched hat, 
much the worse for wear, covered a shock of un- 
kempt yellow hair that fell down over his shoulders 
like a Shaker's." 



40 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Without consulting any one, James resolved to 
be examined by a physician before going on with 
his studies. 

He went to Dr. J. P. Eobinson, of Bedford, 
who happened to be in the neighborhood, and said 
to him, — 

" You are a physician, and know the fibre that is 
in men. I want you to examine me, and then say 
frankly whether or no it is worth while for me to 
take a course of liberal study. It is my earnest 
desire to do so, but if you advise me not to attempt 
it, I shall feel content." 

The doctor, in speaking of this incident, says : — 

" I felt that I was on my sacred honor, and the 
young man looked as though he felt himself on 
trial. I had had considerable experience as a 
physician, but here was a case much different from 
any other I had ever had. I examined his head, 
and saw that there was a magnificent brain there. 
I sounded his lungs, and found them strong and 
capable of making good blood. I fejt his pulse, 
and saw that there was an engine capable of send- 
ing the blood up to the brain. I had seen many 
strong, physical systems with warm feet, but cold, 
sluggish brain ; and those who possessed such sys- 
tems would simply sit around and doze. At the 
end of a fifteen minutes' careful examination of this 
kind, we rose, and I said : c Go on ; follow the 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 41 

promptings of your ambition. You have the brain 
of a Webster, and you have the physical propor- 
tions that will back you in the most herculean 
efforts. Work, work hard, do not be afraid of 
overworking ; and you will make your mark.' " 



42 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER VI. 

Low State of Finances. — James Takes up Carpentry again. — The 
Debating Club. — Bread and Milk Diet. — First Experience in 
School-Teaching. — Becomes Interested in Religious Topics. — 
Creed of the Disciples. — James Joins the New Sect. 

After buying his school-books and some other 
necessary articles, James found his small amount 
of funds rapidly decreasing. But this did not dis- 
courage him in the least. 

" I have never yet had any difficulty in finding 
work, and I don't believe I shall now," he said to 
his cousins, as he started off one Saturday after- 
noon to find a carpenter's shop. 

In those days planing was always done by hand, 
and Mr. YVoodworth, the one carpenter at Chester, 
was very glad to engage so willing and capable an 
assistant as the young student. 

By working at his shop before and after school, 
and all day upon Saturday, James earned enough 
money to pay all his bills that term, and carry 
home a few dollars besides. From that time for- 
ward he never failed to pay his own way, although 
to do it he was obliged to work very hard and deny 
himself many comforts. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 43 

The studies of his first term at Chester included 
English grammar, natural philosophy, arithmetic 
and algebra. It was one of the regulations of the 
school to write a composition every fortnight upon 
subjects chosen sometimes by the principal, and 
sometimes by the students themselves. These 
essays were occasionally read before the whole 
school, and the first time that James read his, 
he trembled so that he was "very glad,*' he writes, 
" of the short curtain across the platform that hid 
my shaking legs from the audience." 

In the Debating Society James always took an 
active part. He was a little diffident at first, but 
soon astonished himself as much as his friends by 
his ready command of language. Whatever ques- 
tion came up before the club he studied as he 
would a problem in mathematics. The school 
library supplied him with books of reference, and 
his ready memory never failed him. The students 
at Geauga listened with astonishment to the elo- 
quent appeals of their rough, ungainly schoolmate. 
The secret of his power was largel} r due to the 
thorough preparation with which he armed himself. 
He was so full of his subject he could not help 
imparting it in the strongest and most impressive 
manner. Here it was that he laid the basis of his 
future success as a public speaker. 

Having taken from the library the "Life of 
Henry C. Wright/' he became quite interested in 



44 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the author's experiment of living upon a bread and 
milk diet. He told his cousins they had been too 
extravagant in their mode of living, that milk was 
better than meat for students, and that another 
term they must try it. 

The boys, always ready to follow James, acqui- 
esced ; and after a trial of four weeks, found their 
expenses had been reduced to thirty-one cents 
each, per week. But their strength also had 
become reduced ; and while still making milk their 
principal article of diet, they concluded to increase 
their table to the amount of fifty cents each for the 
remainder of the term. 

When the long vacation came James was very 
anxious to teach school. The principal at Geauga 
had told him that he was fully competent, and with 
his usual energy and determination he started out 
to find a school. 

"What! you don't expect we want a hoy to 
teach in our district ? " was the first reply to his 
modest application. 

It was of no use to show the committee his 
excellent recommendation from Mr. Branch — they 
wanted a man, not a boy. 

Somewhat discouraged, James walked on to the 
next district, onty to find that a teacher had already 
been engaged. About three miles north was 
another school, but here, too, they were just sup- 
plied with a graduate from Geauga. 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 45 

Two days of persistent school-hunting followed, 
but James was unable to find any position as 
teacher. 

" It may be that Providence has something bet- 
ter in store for you," said his mother ; but James 
was so tired and discouraged he had not a word to 
say. 

Early next morning he was surprised by a call 
from one of the committee men belonging to their 
own district. 

"We want some one to teach at the 'Ledge,' " 
he said to James, " and we heard that you were 
looking for a school. Now, the boys all know you 
in this district, and they are a pretty hard lot to 
manage, but I reckon you are stout enough to 
thrash them all." 

Not a very encouraging outlook for James, 
surely ! But after talking the matter over with 
his Uncle Amos Boynton, he concluded to under- 
take the school. 

Besriimino; as " Jim Garfield," he determined to 
win the respect of both pupils and parents until he 
was known as "Mr. Garfield." To do this a deal 
of firmness was required, and his first day at 
school was a series of battles with naughty boys. 
After that a most friendly relation was established 
between pupils and teacher. They felt he had no 
desire to domineer over them, but that he would 
maintain order and decorum at any cost. In 



46 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

"boarding around," as was the custom for district 
school teachers in those days, he became well 
acquainted with all the families in the neighbor- 
hood and gained a still firmer hold upon the af- 
fections of his pupils. Before the winter was 
over, Mr. Garfield had won the reputation of be- 
ing "the best teacher who had ever taught at the 
' Ledge.' " 

It was a great delight to his mother to have him 
so near her. Every Sunday he spent at home, and 
it was at this time that he became deeply interested 
in religious questions. His mother was a member 
of the Church of Disciples, or Campbellites, as 
they were sometimes called, from Alexander 
Campbell, the founder of the sect. 

Their creed is as follows : 

I. We believe in God, the Father. 

II. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
the living God, the only Saviour. 

III. That Christ is a Divine Being. 

IV. That the Holy Spirit is the Divine agent in the 
conversion of sinners, and the sanctification of Chris- 
tians. 

V. ' That the Old and New Testament Scriptures 
are the inspired word of God. 

VI. That there is future punishment for the wicked, 
and future reward for the righteous. 

VII. That the Deity is a prayer-hearing and prayer- 
answering God. 

VIII. That the Bible is our only creed. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 47 

The founder of the sect was for a long time a 
member of the Baptist Church, and declared that 
he differed from them only in his " disbelief in the 
binding force of the church creed, and in the 
necessity of ministerial ordinations." 

The new church grew very rapidly, notwith- 
standing the persecutions it received from both 
the Baptist and Freewill Baptist denominations, 
and it numbers now over half a million members. 

It is not strange that James was drawn to this 
single-hearted, struggling sect of " Disciples." 
The earnest, persuasive arguments of one of its 
preachers led him to Christ, and when, that same 
winter, he was baptized in the little river at Or- 
ange, he became at once an earnest champion of 
the new church. In all religious discussions, he 
claimed the right of following the Bible according 
to the convictions of his own conscience, and de- 
clared that every one else should have the same 
right. 

His consistent Christian life added strength to 
his spoken words, and the Disciples felt that a 
bright and shining light had been added to their 
ranks. 



48 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER VLT. 

Return to Geauga Seminary. — Works at Haying through the Vaca- 
tion. — Teaches a higher Grade of School. — First Oration. — 
Determines to Go to College. — He visits the State Capitol at 
Columbus. 

When James returned to the academy, he made 
an arrangement with Mr. "Woodworth, by which 
he could have a comfortable boarding-place at one 
dollar and six cents a week. This was at Mr. 
Woodworth's own house, and the payment was to 
be taken out in labor at the carpenter's shop. It 
was an excellent plan, and gave James more time 
for his studies, in spite of the hard manual labor 
he performed out of school-hours. He could use 
the square and the scratch-awl now, as well as 
the plane ; and his wages were correspondingly 
increased. 

In the summer vacation of his third term at 
Geauga, James and a schoolmate resolved to earn 
a little money at haying. They accordingly hired 
themselves out to a neighboring farmer who 
wanted some extra hands. Noticing how vigor- 
ously the boys worked, the farmer turned to his 
men and said, — 

" Lookee here, you lubbers ! these boys are 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 49 

gitting way ahead of you. They make broader 
swaths, and they mow a sight better than you 
do!" 

"When the haying was done, and the settling 
day came, the farmer asked the boys what wages 
they expected. 

""Whatever you think is right," replied James. 

"Wall," said the farmer, "as yer only boys, 
of course yer won't expect men's wages." 

" But didn't you say yourself," argued James, 
"that we did more work than your men? If that 
is so, why should you pay us less?" 

The farmer was nonplussed, and gave the boys 
the same wages he paid his men, remarking, as he 
did so, — 

" It's the fust time I ever paid boys so much, 
but you've fairly earned it — that's a fact ! " 

It was just about this time that the anti-slavery 
contest began to assert itself throughout the coun- 
try. 

In the little Debating Club at Geauga, the ques- 
tion was given out, " Ought slavery to be abolished 
in this republic ?" It was a subject that roused 
James to his best efforts ; and his school-mates, 
as they listened to his fiery denunciations against 
slavery, declared that " Jim ought to go to Con- 
gress ! " 

The following winter James procured a school 
at "Warrensville, where he was paid sixteen dollars 



50 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

a month and his board, which was more than he 
had ever earned before. It was in this school that 
one of the pupils wanted to take up geometry — 
a branch of mathematics that James had never 
studied. 

As usual, however, he was equal to the emer- 
gency. Buying a text-book, he studied geometry 
after school-hours, until he had mastered the 
science, and his pupils never once dreamed but that 
he was as familiar with it as with algebra or arith- 
metic. 

It was at the annual exhibition of Geauga Semi- 
nary, in November, 1859, that James delivered 
his first oration. It was prepared with his usual 
carefulness, and delivered with so much magnetic 
earnestness that the whole audience were held 
spell-bound. 

" He is bound to make his mark in the world," 
said every one who had listened to the earnest, 
enthusiastic student. 

Mrs. Garfield noted with grateful joy that her 
son no longer spoke of " going to sea." The one 
great aim of his life now was to procure a liberal 
education. A deeper, broader ocean was stretch- 
ing out before him, and already his pulses thrilled 
with the mighty, incoming tide. 

It was during his last term at Geauga Seminary 
that James met a young man who was a graduate 
of a New England college. From him he learned 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 51 

that it was possible to work one's way through 
college as well as through school. It was a new 
thought to James. His poverty had seemed to 
him before an insurmountable obstacle in gaining 
a university education. Now, he began to study 
Latin and other branches that might pave the way 
to a college examination. 

On his return home, he found his mother was 
just about to start on a journey to Muskingum 
County, where some of her relatives lived. She 
was very anxious that James should go with her, 
and, when he found that he could obtain a school 
near Zanesville, he was quite ready to go. The 
Cleveland and Columbus Railroad had just been 
opened, and this was James' first ride in the cars. 
When they reached Columbus they visited the 
legislature, which was then in session; and, as 
James remarked afterwards, " That alone was 
worth a month's schooling to me." 

The mother and son spent three months in this 
part of Ohio, James teaching the little school at 
Harrison, and studying hard himself all the time. 
Having met a student from the Eclectic Institute 
at Hiram, Portage County, Ohio, he learned that 
opportunities were there afforded for studying the 
branches of the first two college years. The ex- 
penses of tuition were no greater than at Geauga 
Seminary, and the Institute was under the direc- 
tion of the Church of the Disciples. 



52 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

It seemed a providential opening, and, after 
talking over the matter with his mother, he de- 
termined to seek admission there the following 
autumn. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 53 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Hiram Institute. — The faithful Janitor. — Miss Almeda Booth. — 
James is appointed Assistant Teacher. — Critical habit of Reading. 
— Moral and Religious Growth. — Debating Club. 

It was towards the latter part of August, 1851, 
and James was nearly twenty years of age when 
he first presented himself at Hiram Institute. The 
board of trustees was then in session, and he was 
directly introduced into the room where they were 
seated. Notwithstanding his shabby clothes and 
awkward manners, his earnest, intelligent face at 
once prepossessed them in his favor. 

" I must work my way," he began ; " but I am 
very anxious to get an education. I thought, 
perhaps, you would let me ring the bell and sweep 
the floors to pay part of my bills." 

"How do we know that you can do the work 
well?" asked one of the trustees. 

" If, at the end of a couple of weeks," replied 
James, " you find that my work does not suit you, 
I will not ask to keep the place." 

" I think we had better try the young student," 
said another of the trustees, and so the question 
was settled, and James was duly installed as janitor. 



54 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The town of Hiram was at that time twelve 
miles from the railroad, and consisted of a strag-* 
gling collection of houses, with two churches and 
a few stores at the cross-roads. Its natural advan- 
tages, however, were wonderfully fine, and to-day 
it is sometimes called " the crown of Ohio." Its 
location is very near the line where the waters 
divide, one part flowing northward to Lake Erie, 
the other southward to the Ohio river. 

The Institute was a plain, brick building on the 
top of a hill, whose slopes were thickly planted 
with corn ; from this eminence a charming pano- 
rama of the whole surrounding country could be 
obtained. It was built for the special accommoda- 
tion of the sons and daughters of the Western 
Reserve farmers, and among its founders was Mr. 
Zebulon Rudolph, the father of James' old school- 
mate, Lucretia Rudolph. The R£v. A. S. Hay den 
was, at this time, its principal, and Thomas Mun- 
nell and Norman Dunshee were assistant teachers. 

The aims of the school were, — 

1st. To provide a sound, scientific and literary 
education. 

2d. To temper and sweeten such education with 
moral and scriptural knowledge. 

3d. To educate young men for the ministry. 

The charter of the Institute, according to the 
peculiar tenet of the religious movement in which 
it originated, was based upon the study of the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 55 

Holy Scriptures. The Disciples believed that the 
Bible ought to take a larger place in general cul- 
ture than had as yet been accorded to it. In the 
course of study, the system pursued was strictly 
elective. It was just the place for James to fit for 
college, and pursue, if he chose, branches that 
would enable him to enter a university two years 
in advance. 

Among the pupils at Hiram, when James en- 
tered the Institute, was a Miss Almeda Booth, 
some nine years his senior, who proved an invalu- 
able friend and helper. She was a teacher as well 
as scholar, but James, at the end of a few months, 
found himself pursuing the same studies and rank- 
ing in the same classes as Miss Booth. " I was far 
behind her," he writes, "in mathematics and the 
physical sciences, but we were nearly in the same 
place in Greek and Latin." 

Miss Booth was a lady of rare talent. Upon 
the death of the young man to whom she was en- 
gaged, she resolved to consecrate her life to higher 
intellectual attainments, in order to increase her 
usefulness. 

In a tribute to her memory, a few years ago, 
Garfield said, — 

" She exerted a more powerful influence over 
me than any other teacher, except President Hop- 
kins The few spare hours which school- 
work left us were devoted to such pursuits as 



56 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

each of us preferred, but much study was done in 
common. I can name twenty or thirty books, 
which will be doubly precious to me because they 
were read and discussed in company with her. I 
can still read between the lines the memories of 
her first impressions of the page, and her judgment 
of its merits." 

Whenever James had a thesis to prepare, he 
would talk over the subject for hours with Miss 
Booth, and together they read during one term a 
hundred pages of Herodotus and a hundred of 
Livy. 

At the close of his first year at Hiram, James 
was given the position of assistant teacher of the 
English department and ancient languages. He 
had also secured regular work with the carpenter 
in Hiram, so it was no longer necessary for him to 
serve as janitor. But many of his old schoolmates 
still remember the faithfulness with which he per- 
formed the menial services of his first position. 
He was promptness itself at the ringing of every 
bell, and seemed the personification of Herbert's 
servant, in making "drudgery divine" — for truly, 

. "Who sweeps a room as to Thy laws, 
Makes that and the action fine! " 

It was while at Hiram Institute that he formed 
the habit of taking critical notes from all the books 
he read. It proved of invaluable service to him in 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 57 

after years, for no matter upon what topic he de- 
sired to speak, these indexes served as so many 
finger-posts in his library, and directed him at once 
to the subject-matter in hand. 

All this time the moral and religious faculties of 
the young student were developing no less rapidly 
than his intellectual powers. At the frequent 
meetings of the Disciples he was a ready speaker, 
and his earnest appeals are remembered to this day 
by his school-mates. Every one seemed to think, 
as a matter of course, that he would become a 
preacher in the Church of the Disciples, but, as 
the months went by, he seemed disinclined to ex- 
press any decision upon that point. 

The Debating Club at Hiram called out his best 
powers. His practice at Geauga had fitted him to 
express his opinions upon whatever subject might 
be under discussion, in the clearest and most im- 
pressive manner. At one time the contest over 
some public question became so bitter and excited 
that James finally rose and declared he would no 
longer waste his time over such nonsensical things 
as the majority proposed. A division of the 
club was the final result, and James was chosen 
president of the new society. 



58 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Ready for College. — His Uncle lends him Five Hundred Dollars. — 
Why he Decides to go to Williams. — College Life. 

After spending three years at Hiram in faithful, 
persistent study, James felt he was prepared to 
enter the junior class at almost any college. But 
how was he to procure the means to carry on his 
studies ? Thus far he had defrayed all his expenses 
by his own exertions as janitor, carpenter, and 
teacher ; but, to enter college, he would need a 
little money in advance. His proud, independent 
spirit shrank from borrowing even from his friends. 
At last, he went to his uncle, Thomas Garfield, 
and asked for the use of five hundred dollars until 
he could earn enough money by teaching to pay it 
back. 

His uncle Thomas had always shown a kindly 
interest in his efforts to obtain an education, and 
now gladly advanced him the sum he desired. In 
order to make sure the payment in case of his 
death, James procured a policy upon his life to 
the value of five hundred dollars, and presented it 
to his uncle. 

He had now, as he thought, the necessary means 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 59 

to enter college, but which of the many inviting 
doors should he enter ? Every one seemed to take 
it for granted that he would go to Bethany Col- 
lege, which was under the patronage of his own 
denomination, but, in a letter to a friend, he gave 
his final decision as follows : — 

w After thinking it all over, I have made up my 
mind to go to Williamstown, Mass. , . . . There 
are three reasons why I have decided not to go to 
Bethany: — 1st. The course of study is not so 
extensive or thorough as in eastern colleges. 2d. 
Bethany leans too heavily toward slavery. 3d. I 
am the son of Disciple parents, am one myself, 
and have had but little acquaintance with people 
of other views ; and having always lived in the 
West, I think it will make me more liberal 
both in my religious and general views and senti- 
ments, to go into a\ new circle, where I shall 
be under new influence. Therefore, I wrote to 
the presidents of Brown University, Yale and 
Williams, setting forth the amount of study I had 
done, and asking how long it would take me to 
finish their course. 

" Their answers are now before me. All tell 
me I can graduate in two years. They are all 
brief, business notes, but President Hopkins con- 
cludes with this sentence : f If you come here we 
shall be glad to do what we can for you.' Other 
things being so nearly equal, this sentence, which 



60 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

seems to be a kind of friendly grasp of the hand, 
has settled that question for me. I shall start for 
Williams next week." 

It was at the close of the summer term in 1854 
that James presented himself before President 
Hopkins for examination. He is described at this 
time "as a tall, awkward youth, with a great 
shock of light hair, rising nearly erect from a 
broad, high forehead, and an open, kindly, and 
thoughtful face, which showed no traces of his 
long struggle with poverty and privation." 

He passed the examination without difficulty, 
and soon became a great favorite with his class in 
spite of his shabby clothes and Western provin- 
cialisms. " Old Gar " and the " Ohio giant " were 
the names by which he was best known in col- 
lege, and a classmate says of him that "he im- 
mediately took a stand above all his companions 
for accurate scholarship, and won high honors as a 
writer, reasoner, and debater." 

The beautiful, mountainous scenery about Wil- 
liamstown was a constant delight to the young 
Westerner. He would frequently climb to the top 
of Greylock and feast his eyes upon the magnifi- 
cent panorama below. Pie was no longer obliged 
to work at the carpenter's bench, or perform the 
duties of janitor, and these long walks gave him 
needful exercise as well as pleasant recreation. 

President Hopkins became greatly interested in 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 61 

the earnest, enthusiastic student. The " friendly 
hand-grasp " was extended to him in many ways, 
and, when the summer vacation came, he offered 
him the free use of the college library. 

James gladly availed himself of this privilege, 
and browsed among the books to his heart's con- 
tent. It was the first time in his life that he had 
ever found leisure to read the works of Shake- 
speare, consecutively. During the summer vaca- 
tion he not only read and thoroughly studied the 
plays, but committed large portions of them to 
memory. He also varied his heavier reading with 
works of fiction, allowing himself one novel a 
month. Dickens and Thackeray were favorite au- 
thors, and Tennyson's poems were read with ever- 
increasing pleasure. 

He completed his classical studies the first year 
he was at Williamstown, as he had entered far in 
advance of the other pupils. He then took up 
German as an elective study, and, in the space of 
a few months, had made such rapid progress 
that he could read Goethe and Schiller, and con- 
verse with fluency. 

In the " Williams Quarterly," a magazine pub- 
lished by the students, James took great interest, 
and was a frequent contributor both in prose and 
poetry. 

The following poem, entitled "Memory," he 
wrote the last year he was at Williams College : — 



62 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" 'Tis beauteous night; the stars look brightly down 
Upon the earth, decked in her robe of snow, 
No light gleams at the window save my own, 
Which gives its cheer to midnight and to me. 
And now with noiseless step sweet Memory comes, 
And leads me gently through her twilight realms. 
What poet's tuneful lyre has ever sung, 
Or delicatest pencil e'er portrayed 
The enchanted shadowy land where Memory dwells? 
It has its valleys, cheerless, lone and drear, 
Dark-shaded by the mournful cypress tree, 
And yet its sunlit mountain-tops are bathed 
In heaven's oavii blue. Upon its craggy cliffs, 
Robed in the dreamy light of distant years, 
Are clustered joys serene of other days ; 
Upon its gently-sloping hillsides bend 
The weeping-willows o'er the sacred dust 
Of dear departed ones; and yet in that land, 
Where'er our footsteps fall upon the shore, 
They that were sleeping rise from out the dust 
Of death's long, silent years, and round us stand, 
As erst they did before the prison tomb 
Received their clay within its voiceless halls. 
The heavens that bend above that land are hung 
With clouds of various hues : some dark and chill, 
Surcharged with sorrow, cast their sombre shade 
Upon the sunny, joyous land below; 
Others art' floating through the dreamy air; 
White as the falling snow their margins tinged 
With gold and crimson hues; their shadows fall 
Upon the flowery meads and sunny slopes, 
Soft as the shadows of an angel's wing. 
When the rough battle of the day is done, 
And evening's peace falls gently on the heart, 
I bound away across the noisy years, 
Unto the utmost verge of Memory's land, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 63 

Where earth and sky in dreamy distance meet, 

And Memory dim with dark oblivion joins ; 

Where woke the first-remembered sounds that fell 

Upon the ear in childhood's early morn; 

And wandering thence, along the rolling years, 

I see the shadow of my former self 

Gliding from childhood up to man's estate. 

The path of youth winds down through many a vale 

And on the brink of many a dread abyss, 

From out whose darkness comes no ray of light, 

Save that a phantom dances o'er the gulf, 

And beckons toward the verge. Again the path 

Leads o'er a summit where the sunbeams fall; 

And thus in light and shade, sunshine and gloom, 

Sorrow and joy, this life-path leads along." 

He was also a prominent member of the Philo- 
logian Society, of which he was afterwards elected 
president. 

While James was at Williamstown, the anti- 
slavery contest was at a white heat. Charles 
Sumner had aroused the whole nation by his stir- 
ring, eloquent speeches in Congress ; and when 
the tidings came of the attack made upon him by 
Preston Brooks of South Carolina, indignation 
meetings were held everywhere throughout the 
North. At the gathering in Williamstown , Garfield 
made a most powerful speech, denouncing slavery 
in the strongest terms. 

" Hurrah for c Old Gar ! ' " exclaimed his class- 
mates ; " the country will hear from him yet !" 

W'hen the fall term closed, James looked about 



64 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

for some position as teacher, and finally opened a 
writing-school in Pownal, Vermont. This brought 
him in quite a sum of money, and enlarged his 
circle of acquaintance. His sunny disposition, his 
energy, his warm-hearted, sympathetic nature, 
made him a great favorite wherever he went, and 
President Hopkins, writing of him at this time, 
says, — 

"He was prompt, frank, manly, social, in his 
tendencies ; combining active exercise with habits 
of study, and thus did for himself what it is the 
object of a college to enable every young man to 
do, — he made himself a man." 

Professor, now President, Chadbourne adds his 
testimony as follows : — 

" The college life of James Garfield was so per- 
fect, so rounded, so pure, so in accordance with 
what it ought to be in all respects, that I can add 
nothing to it by eulogizing him. It Avas a noble 
college life ; everything about him was high and 
noble and manly. He was one whom his teachers 
would never suspect as guilty of a dishonest or 
mean act, and one whom a dishonest or mean man 
would not approach. His moral and religious 
character, and marked intellectual ability, gave 
great promise of success in the world." 

At the end of his first collegiate year, James 
visited his mother, who was then living with her 
married daughter in Solon, Ohio. What a tall, 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 65 

manly fellow he had grown to be ! What a power 
he would be in the church, in the world ! Her 
heart was full of grateful joy as she realized how 
abundantly God had answered her earnest prayers. 

The next winter vacation James taught a school 
in Poestenkill, a little village some six miles from 
Troy, N. Y. There was a Church of the Disciples 
in the place, and James was a frequent attendant at 
the conference meetings. His able remarks and 
earnest exhortations excited so much comment that 
the pastor, Mr. Streeter, invited him to occupy his 
pulpit. After hearing him preach once, the people 
declared that they must hear him again, and so it 
came about that almost every Sunday found the 
young student in the desk. 

"He will become the most noted preacher in 
the Disciples' Church," said his friends and class- 
mates. 

One day a certain Mr. Brooks, belonging to the 
school committee at Troy, called upon him and 
said, — 

"Our high school needs a new teacher, Mr. 
Garfield, and we want you to supply the vacancy. 
You will not find it a difficult position, and we 
will pay you a salary of twelve hundred dollars." 

It was a tempting offer, and would relieve James 
at once of the pecuniary difficulties that hung like 
weights about his feet. After taking some days 
to consider the matter, he finally said to Mr. 
brooks, — 



66 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" Much as I need the money, I feel it would not 
be right for me to accept the position. It would 
prevent me from finishing my college course, and 
so cramp me, intellectually, for life. Then, again, 
I feel under some obligation to Hiram Institute, 
where the trustees expect me to return. My roots 
seem to be fixed in Ohio, and the transplanting 
might not succeed ; it is best for me to complete 
my studies here, and then return to my home- 
work, even for smaller pay." 

Abiding by this decision, James applied himself 
to his books with renewed energy. President 
Hopkins had established the metaphysical oration 
as the highest honor of the class, and James' 
essay upon " The Seen and the Unseen " bore off 
the palm. 

He graduated in August, 1856, and among the 
forty-two members that composed his class, are a 
number of names that have since won an enviable 
distinction. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 67 



CHAPTER X. 

Return Home. — Appointed Professor, then President, of Hiram 
Institute. — His Popularity as a Teacher. — Answers Prof. Denton. 
— Marriage. 

Upon his return home, Garfield was immediately 
appointed Professor of Ancient Languages and 
Literature at Hiram Institute. Writing to a friend 
at this time, he says, — 

" I have attained to the height of my ambition. 
I have my diploma from an eastern college, and 
my position here at Hiram as instructor ; and now 
I shall devote all my energies to this Institution." 

The following year, upon the resignation of A. 
L. Hayden, Garfield was appointed President of 
Hiram Institute. He was now twenty-six years 
of age, and one of his pupils writing of him at 
this time, says, — 

"He was a tall, strong man, full of animal 
spirits, and many a time he used to run out on the 
green and play cricket with us. He combined an 
affectionate and confiding manner with respect for 
order in a most successful manner. If he wanted 
to speak to a pupil, either for reproof or approba- 
tion, he would generally manage to get one arm 



68 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

around him and draw him close up to him. He 
had a peculiar way of shaking hands, too, giving 
a twist to your arm and drawing you right up to 
him. This sympathetic manner has helped him to 
advancement. He took very kindly to me, and 
assisted me in various ways, because I was poor 
and was janitor of the buildings, and swept them 
out in the morning, and built the fires, as he had 
done only six years before, when he was a pupil at 
the same school. 

" Once when he assigned me a task that I feared 
was beyond my powers, I said, — 

" ' I am afraid I cannot do that.' 

"'What ! ' he exclaimed, c you are not going to 
give up without trying ! It seems to me, Darsie, 
when one is in a place he can easily fill, it is 
time for him to shove out of it into one that re- 
quires his utmost exertion.' " 

• The present principal at Hiram, President Hins- 
dale, was one of Garfield's pupils, and it was 
through his advice and constant encouragement 
that the struggling student undertook the work of 
a liberal education. 

" Tell me," he writes Hinsdale, "do you not feel 
a spirit stirring within you that longs to know, to 
do, and to dare, to hold converse with the great 
world of thought, and hold before you some high 
and noble object to which the vigor of your mind 
and the strength of your arm may be given ? Do 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 69 

you not have longings like these which you breathe 
to no one, and which you feel must be heeded, or 
you will pass through life unsatisfied and regret- 
ful? I am sure you have them, and they will for- 
ever cling around your heart till you obey their 

mandate God has endowed some of His 

children with desires and capabilities for an ex- 
tended field of labor and influence, and every life 
should be shaped according to ■' what the man 
hath.' I know you have capabilities for occupying 
positions of high and important trust in the scenes 
of active life. I sincerely hope you will not, with- 
out an earnest struggle, give up a course of liberal 
study." 

Hinsdale, as we all know, followed the advice 
of his earnest, sympathetic teacher, and is now 
ranked among the foremost scholars of the day. 

A favorite mode of instruction with Garfield was 
by means of lectures. 

" They were upon all sorts of subjects," writes 
one of his pupils, K and were usually the result of 
his readings and observation. One season he took 
a pleasure trip, and, on his return, gave a very in- 
teresting series on ' The Chain of Lakes,' includ- 
ino- Niagara, The Thousand Isles, and sub-historic 
points. One lecture on aerolites I shall never for- 
get. About the time of the attack on Fort Sumter, 
he gave several lectures upon ' Ordnance ' ; and the 
natural sciences, aesthetics, "etc., always came in 
for a share of his effective treatment." 



70 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

At one time a certain Prof. Denton, who was a 
strong advocate of spiritualism, gave a series of 
lectures in Northern Ohio, by which he attempted 
to prove the inaccuracy of the Scriptures. He was 
something of a scholar, and stated his theories in so 
plausible a manner that many weak minds were 
misled. At last he became so bold that he offered 
a challenge to any and every believer of the Bible 
in Ohio to refute his statements. 

The Churches of the Disciples were greatly 
troubled. Many of their young men were falling 
away, and the false doctrines were gaining a rapid 
ascendancy throughout the community. They 
must have a strong champion, who could meet 
Professor Denton with sharp weapons upon his own 
ground. They applied to Garfield, who, after 
some persuasion, finally agreed to meet the pro- 
fessor upon the appointed evening and take up his 
challenge. He had only three days to prepare for 
the contest, but, selecting six of his most advanced 
students, he told them the plan of argument he 
had devised, and then sent them to the college 
library to look up the separate points. He also 
procured copies of all the previous lectures that 
Professor Denton had delivered, and sent in va- 
rious directions for the latest scientific works. 
When the evening came he was thoroughly pre- 
pared at every point. A large and excited audi- 
ence had gathered to hear the discussion. Profes- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 71 

sor Denton opened the debate. Supposing his 
opponent would not dare to attack him on scientific 
ground, he neglected to be precisely accurate in all 
his statements. Garfield waited until he had fin- 
ished, and then, with overwhelming authority, 
took up each point of the discussion and refuted 
all the Professor's arguments with the very weap- 
ons he had himself been using. It was a complete 
victory, and Professor Denton had the manliness 
to acknowledge that he had never before met with 
so gifted and powerful an adversary. 

As the Institute at Hiram was under the special 
patronage of the Disciples, a large number of 
the students in attendance were young men who 
were fitting for the ministry. Garfield's position, 
therefore, as principal, gave him a close connection 
with church-work. He was a preacher as well as 
a teacher, and at one time filled the pulpits at 
Solon and Newberg every Sunday. At the morn- 
ins: devotions it was his custom to deliver a short, 
impressive address ; his favorite hymn at these ser- 
vices was, " Ho, reapers of life's harvest," and his 
pupils recall how, at the singing of the last verse, 
he would always rap upon his desk and request 
the whole school to rise. He frequently preached 
at the Disciples' Church in Hiram, and everyone 
believed that he would eventually choose the min- 
istry for his profession. 

"^ucretia Rudolph, the bright, attractive school- 



72 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

mate to whom his thoughts had so often reverted, 
was now a teacher at Hiram. They had corre- 
sponded all the time he was in college, their long 
friendship had ripened into a deep and tender love, 
and on the 11th of November, 1858, they were 
united in marriage. 

A poet-student at Hiram celebrates the event in 
the following ode : — 

" Again a Mary? Nay, Lucretia; 
The noble, classic name 
That well befits our fair ladie, 
Our sweet and gentle dame 
With heart as leal and loving 
As e'er was sung in lays 
Of high-born Roman nation, 
In old, heroic da3 T s; 
Worthy her lord illustrious, whom 
Honor and fame attend; 
Worthy her soldier's name to wear, 
Worthy the civic wreath to share 
That binds her Viking's tawny hair; 
Right proud are we the world should know 
As hers, him whom we long ago 
Found truest helper, friend," 

In a humble little cottage, just in front of the 
college campus, they began their wedded life, — a 
life whose wonderful beauty, strength, and devo- 
tion was soon to be seen and known of all the 
world. 

Mrs. Garfield became as great a favorite in the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 73 

college as her husband. One of the graduates 
thus writes : — 

" There are men and women scattered over the 
United States, holding positions of honor and 
wealth, who began the life that led them upward 
by the advice and with the assistance of Mr. and 
Mrs. Garfield." 

The wife was always the ready and efficient 
helpmeet of her husband. Whenever he had a 
lecture or speech to prepare, she would search the 
whole library, consulting every book that per- 
tained to the subject in hand, and then together 
they would discuss the topic from every point of 
view. One, in every thought and purpose, their 
quiet life at Hiram presented the same beautiful 
home picture that after honors could never dim 
nor tarnish. 



74 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XL 

Law Studies. — Becomes Interested iu Politics. — Delivers Oration at 
the Williams Commencement. — Elected State Senator. — His 
Courage and Eloquence. 

Shortly after his marriage, Garfield entered his 
name in the law office of Riddle and Williamson, 
attorneys in Cleveland, Ohio, as a student of law. 
This formality was necessary in order to ensure 
admission to the bar. It was not here, however, 
that he studied, and for a long time his friends 
knew nothing of the step he had taken. After his 
hours of teaching, at odd moments through the 
day, and often for into the night, he pored over 
his law-books with the same intensity of purpose 
-he had shown in all his other undertakings. 

It was his patriotic interest in the measures 
which were then before the legislature of Ohio 
that first led him to take up a critical study of law. 
He always wanted to go to the bottom of things, 
and his college training under President Hopkins 
had developed a wonderful power of synopsizing. 
In entering upon a course of law studies, it was 
not so much with the thought of becoming a 
lawyer, as to make himself conversant with the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 75 

principles of law. When, however, he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, he was so thoroughly equipped 
for practice, that he could go into courts of any 
grade and try the most intricate cases. 
In later years a friend said of him : — 
" Had Garfield gone to the bar for a living, his 
gift of oratory, his strong analytical powers, and 
his ability to do hard work, would soon have made 
him eminent. In the few law cases he took durinsr 

O 

vacation seasons he held his own with some of the 
best lawyers of the country. In one of them his 
ability to grasp successfully with an unexpected 
situation was signally demonstrated. The case was 
tried in Mobile, and involved the ownership of the 
Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Garfield had prepared 
himself upon an important and difficult question 
of law involved, and felt a comfortable sense of 
readiness for the trial ; but after he reached 
Mobile the court ordered the consolidation of three 
suits concerning the road, and the question upon 
which he had prepared himself passed wholly out 
of sight ; and, as he wrote to a friend, ' the whole 
entanglement of an insolvent railroad twenty-five 
years old, lying across four states and costing 
$20,000,000, came upon us at once.' He was as- 
signed the duty of summing up the case for his 
side. During the trial he did five days and five 
nights of the hardest work he ever did in his life. 
Then he made his argument and won the case." 



76 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

It will be remembered that when at college, 
Garfield always took an active part in political dis- 
cussions, although he did not cast a vote until four 
years after his majority. At that time the new 
Republican party was formed on the anti-slavery 
platform, with Fremont and Dayton as their candi- 
dates. Garfield heartily sympathized with this 
party that " drew its first inspiration from that fire 
of liberty which God has lighted in every human 
heart," and from that time forward became its 
earnest and ready champion. During the cam- 
paign of 1856 he was constantly called upon for 
speeches and lectures. A pupil at Hiram at that 
time says : — 

" He would attend to his duties at the Institute 
through the day, jump into a buggy at night, tak- 
ing me or some other student to keep him com- 
pany, put his arm around me, talk all the way to 
the place where the meeting was to be held, be it 
ten or twenty miles. It would not be conversation 
on politics, but on history, general literature, or 
some great principle. He was always welcomed 
upon the platform, and after speaking would re- 
turn, taking up the theme we had dropped, getting 
home in the small hours in the morning. 

" At nine o'clock the next day he would be in 
the school as fresh as ever. When Sunday came 
he would have a sermon as fresh and vigorous as 
if it had been the study of the week. All the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 77 

while he was carrying on the study of law and at- 
tending to the duties incumbent on him as the 
president of the Institute, keeping up a course of 
general reading, and his acquaintance with the 
classics." 

In 1859, only three years after his graduation, 
the faculty of Williams College honored Garfield 
with an invitation to deliver the master's oration 
at Commencement. The able, brilliant speaker was 
constantly in demand, and he won fresh laurels 
wherever he went. 

Upon his return to Ohio, he found to his sur- 
prise that his name had been proposed in Portage 
county for the state senatorship. The unanimous 
support he received was very gratifying, yet his 
first thought was of the Institute. 

" You will be away but a few weeks at a time," 
said the trustees ; " your influence is greatly needed 
at the Capitol, and Hiram must be content to 
wait." 

So, after much persuasion, Garfield accepted 
the nomination, and the Institute jealously kept 
his name, though deprived of his presence. 

It was in January, 1860, that Garfield first took 
his seat in the state senate. Secession and a civil 
war seemed imminent, but the North continued 
strong and steadfast in its denunciations against 
slavery. Garfield, scarcely thirty years of age at 
this time, was the youngest member of the senate. 



78 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Jacob D. Cox, another radical member, and Pro- 
fessor Monroe of Oberlin College, were his inti- 
mate friends and zealous coadjutors. The " radi- 
cal triumvirate," they were called by the opposite 
party ; and when the constitutional amendment, 
which would give the slave states the continuation 
of slavery, was submitted to the Ohio legislature, 
Garfield led the brave minority with marked 
ability and courage. 

In less than ten years from the time he visited 
Columbus with his mother, he had become one of 
the most prominent members of the state senate ! 

The following extract from the Fourth of July 
oration he delivered that year at Ravenna gives us 
a passing glimpse of his patriotic eloquence : — 

" The granite hills are not so changeless and 
abiding as the restless sea. Quiet is no certain 
pledge of permanence and safety. Trees may 
flourish and flowers may bloom upon the quiet 
mountain side, while silently the trickling rain- 
drops are filling the deep cavern behind its rocky 
barriers, which, by-and-by, in a single moment, 
shall hurl to wild ruin its treacherous peace. It 
is true that in our land there is no such outer 
quiet, no such deceitful repose. Here society is a 
restless and surging sea. The roar of the billows, 
the dash of the wave," is forever in our ears. Even 
fche angry hoarseness of breakers is not unheard. 
But there is an understratum of deep, calm sea, 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 79 

which the breath of the wildest tempest can never 
reach. There is, deep down in the hearts of the 
American people, a strong and abiding love of our 
country and its liberty, which no surface-storms 
of passion can ever shake. That kind of insta- 
bility which arises from a free movement and inter- 
change of position among the members of society, 
which brings one drop up to glisten for a time in 
the crest of the highest wave, and then gives place 
to another, while it goes down to mingle again 
with the millions below ; such instability is the 
surest pledge of permanence. On such instability 
the eternal fixedness of the universe is based. 
Each planet, in its circling orbit, returns to the 
goal of its departure, and on the balance of these 
wildly-rolling spheres God has planted the base of 
His mighty works. So the hope of our national 
perpetuity rests upon that perfect individual free- 
dom, which shall forever keep up the circuit of 
perpetual change. God forbid that the waters of 
our national life should ever settle to the dead level 
of a waveless calm. It would be the stagnation 
of death — the ocean grave of individual liberty." 
Garfield was elected to a second term in the 
senate, and among the difficult questions he was 
obliged to discuss the folloAving year that of "State 
Rights " was one of the most perplexing. 



80 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XII. 

War declared between the North and South. — Garfield forms a regi- 
ment from the Western Reserve. — Is appointed Colonel. — General 
Buell's Order. — Garfield takes charge of the 18th Brigade. — Jor- 
dan's perilous journey. — Bradley Brown. — Plan of a Campaign. 
— March against Marshall. 

The Ohio legislature was still in session when, 
upon that never-to-be-forgotten April day, in 1861, 
Fort Sumter received the first rebel shot. The 
news was quickly followed by a call from President 
Lincoln for seventy-five thousand men. This 
proclamation was read in the Ohio senate ; and 
amid deafening applause, Garfield immediately 
sprang to his feet, and moved that Ohio should 
contribute twenty thousand men and three million 
dollars as the quota of the state. 

Although the preservation of the Union was the 
first thought that presented itself to the minds of 
the people, another and deeper impulse — the over- 
throw of slavery — fired their hearts and nerved 
their hands for the coming conflict. 

To his old pupil, Mr. Hinsdale, Garfield 
writes : — 

" My heart and thought are full almost every 
moment with the terrible reality of our country's 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 81 

condition. We have learned so long to look upon 
the convulsions of European States as things 
wholly impossible here, that the people are slow 
in coming to the belief that there may be any 
breaking up of our institutions ; but stern, awful 
certainty is fastening upon the hearts of men. I 
do not see any way, outside a miracle of God, 
which can avoid civil war with all its attendant hor- 
rors. Peaceable dissolution is utterly impossible. 
Indeed I cannot say that I would wish it possible. 
To make the concessions demanded by the South 
would be hypocritical and sinful ; they would 
neither be obeyed nor respected. I am inclined to 
believe that the sin of slavery is one of which it 
may be said that without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission." 

Garfield, always as quick to act as to speak, 
immediately offered his services to Gov. Dennison, 
who at once sent him to Missouri to obtain five 
thousand stands of arms that General Lyon had 
placed there. 

These having been safely shipped to Columbus, 
Gov. Dennison then sent Garfield to Cleveland to 
organize the seventh and eighth regiments of Ohio 
infantry. He would have appointed him colonel of 
one of them, but Garfield, with his usual modesty, 
declined because he had had no military experience. 
He agreed, however, to take a subordinate position 
if he could serve under a West Point graduate. 



82 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The governor then appointed him lieutenant- 
colonel, and commissioned him to raise a regiment 
from the Western Reserve. He hoped to have 
his old schoolmate, Captain Hazen, of the regular 
army, for colonel, but when the governor sent on 
for his transfer, General Scott refused to release 
him. 

Meanwhile, the Hiram students had laid aside 
their books, and flocked with patriotic ardor to the 
standard of their old leader. The greater part of 
this forty-second regiment, indeed, was made up 
of Campbellites, whose noble self-sacrifice in the 
days that folloAved will never be forgotten. 

When the regiment went into camp at Columbus 
it was still without a colonel. Again the governor 
begged Garfield to assume the command, and after 
repeated requests he finally consented. 

After making the decision, he wrote thus to a 
friend : — 

"One by one my old plans and aims, modes of 
thought and feeling, are found to be inconsistent 
with present duty, and are set aside to give place 
to the new structure of military life. It is not 
without a regret, almost tearful at times, that I 
look upon the ruins. But if, as the result of the 
broken plans and shattered individual lives of 
thousands of American citizens, we can see on the 
ruins of our own national errors a new and enduring 
fabric arise, based on a larger freedom and higher 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 83 

justice, it will be a small sacrifice indeed. For 
myself I am contented with such a prospect, and, 
regarding my life as given to the country, am only 
anxious to make as much of it as possible before 
the mortgage upon it is foreclosed." 

Great noble heart ! How grand and pathetic 
these words seem to-day as we read them in the 
light of the last sad tragedy ! 

The Forty-second regiment did not leave for the 
South until the middle of September. It was 
then ordered to join General Buell's forces at 
Louisville. While in camp near Columbus, Gar- 
field applied himself to the study of military 
tactics. With his carpenter's tools he cut out of 
some maple-blocks a whole regiment, and with 
these ingenious marionnettes he mastered the art 
of infantry. Then, forming a school for his offi- 
cers, he required regular recitations in military 
tactics and illustrated the different movements of 
an army by means of his blocks. After this he 
could easily institute all sorts of drills, and his 
regiment soon gained the reputation of being the 
best disciplined in Ohio. 

When the regiment reached Cincinnati, a tele- 
gram was received from General Buell, requesting 
a personal interview with Colonel Garfield. The 
latter hastened on to Louisville and presented 
himself at the General's headquarters, the follow- 
ing evening. 



84 LITE AND TUBLTC SERVICES OF 

Looking the young colonel through and through 
with his clear, piercing eye, General Buell took 
down a map, and pointed out the position of Hum- 
phrey Marshall's forces in East Kentucky. He 
then marked the locations where the Unions troops 
were posted, described the country, capabilities, 
etc., and said to his visitor, — 

"If you were in command of the sub-depart- 
ment of Eastern Kentucky, what would you do? 
Come here at nine o'clock to-morrow morning and 
tell me." 

Garfield went back to his hotel, found a map ' 
of Kentucky, the latest census report, etc., and 
then with paper, pen, and ink, sat down to his 
problem. When daylight came he was still at 
work, but nine o'clock found him at General 
Buell's headquarters with the sketch of his plans 
all completed. 

The elder officer read it, and immediately made 
it the foundation of a special order by which the 
Eighteenth Brigade, Army of the Ohio, was organ- 
ized, and Colonel Garfield was made its commander. 

Soon after, the new brigadier received his letter 
of instructions from General Buell, which was in 
stil istance an order to unite in the face of the 
enemy two small companies of soldiers that were 
stationed far apart, and drive the rebel General 
Marshall out of Kentucky. 

Garfield set out for Catlettsburg without delay, 



JAMES A. GARFlELD. 85 

and found his regiment had gone on to the little 
town of Louisa, some twenty-eight miles up the 
Big Sandy river. 

The whole surrounding country was in a great 
state of excitement. The Fourteenth Kentucky 
regiment had been stationed at Louisa, but hear- 
ing that Marshall with all his forces was closely 
following them, they had hastily retreated to the 
mouth of the Big Sandy. 

On the day before Christmas, Garfield joined 
his troops at Louisa, much to the relief of the 
terror-stricken citizens, who were just preparing 
to cross the river to find a place of safety. 

The young commander had two very important 
and difficult things to accomplish. First, he must 
communicate with Colonel Cranor ; then he must 
unite his own forces to that officer's, in the face of 
a greatly superior enemy that could, and probably 
would, swoop down upon them as soon as they 
made the least movement. 

Going to Colonel Moore of the Fourteenth Ken- 
tucky, he said, — 

K I want a man who is not afraid to take his life 
in his hand for the saving of his country." 

" There is John Jordan from the head of Blaine," 
was the reply, " I think we could rely upon him." 

Jordan was immediately sent for, and, notwith- 
standing his uncanny appearance, Garfield was at 
once prepossessed in his favor. He was tall and 



8Q LIFE AND 'PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Link, with hollow cheeks and a curious squeaking 
voice. Born and bred among the Kentucky hills, 
he was rough and untutored, but his clear, gray 
eyes showed an unflinching courage and a down- 
right honesty, that Garfield read with unerring 
intuition. 

" Are you willing to risk your life for the coun- 
try?" he asked. 

" Oh, yes, sir ! " was the ready response. " When 
I volunteered, I gave up my life for jest what it 
was wuth. If the Lord sees fit to make use of it 
now, I'm willin' He should take it." 

" Do you mean you have come into the war not 
expecting to get out of it ? " 

"Yes, gin'ral, that's how I meant it." 

" And are you willing to die rather than give up 
this despatch?" 

"That's the gospel truth, gin'ral." 

" Well, then, I think I can trust it with you." 

So saying, Garfield rolled up into the form of a 
bullet the tissue-paper on which the despatch was 
written ; he then coated it with warm lead and 
gave it to Jordan. He also gave him a carbine, 
a brace of revolvers, and the swiftest horse in the 
regiment. 

The dangerous journey was to be taken only by 
night, and in the day-time the messenger was to 
hide in the woods. 

It was just at midnight of the second day when 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 87 

Jordan reached Colonel Cranor's quarters at Mc- 
Cormick's Gap with his precious bullet. 

Upon opening the despatch the colonel found it 
was dated Louisa, Dec. 24th. The order read to 
move his regiment as soon as possible to Preston- 
burg, to take as little baggage and as few rations 
as possible, as the safety of his command would 
depend upon his expedition. Hours were worth 
months at such a time ; and early on the following 
mornino- Colonel Cranor's regiment was on the 
move. It consisted of one thousand one hundred 
men, while Garfield's larger division numbered about 
seventeen hundred. The enemy, under Gen. Mar- 
shall, were stationed with the main body of their 
forces near Paintville ; but a company of eight 
hundred were at West Liberty, a town directly on 
the route by which Colonel Cranor was to join Gen- 
eral Garfield. It was a hazardous expedition, but 
the brigadier colonel knew he must obey orders. 

On the morning after Jordan's departure for 
Cranor's camp, Garfield set out with his men and 
halted at George's Creek, which was only twenty 
miles from Marshall's intrenched position at Paint- 
ville. The roads along the Big Sandy were im- 
passable for trains, so Garfield decided to depend 
upon boats to transport his supplies. At this time 
of the year, however, the stream was very uncer- 
tain, as heavy freshets often rendered navigation 
impossible for a number of days. 



88 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Garfield, however, was used to contending with 
difficulties, and was not easily discouraged. Taking 
ten days' rations, he chartered two small steam- 
boats and all the flat boats he could find, and loaded 
them with provisions. 

Next morning, just as they were starting, one 
of the soldiers came up to Garfield and said, — 

"There's a rough-looking man out here, colonel, 
who says he must see you." 

Garfield stepped forward, and immediately re- 
cognized in the disreputable-looking tramp before 
him, Bradley Brown, one of his old companions on 
the canal boat. 

It seemed that he belonged to the rebel army, 
and had heard a few days previous that Garfield, 
for whom he had always cherished a strong affec- 
tion, was commanding the Union forces in that 
part of Kentucky. 

Going to Marshall he told him of his former 
acquaintance with Garfield, and the help it might 
now prove to them if he should enter the camp 
and find out all about the Union forces. Marshall 
was entirely deceived by the plausibility of 
Brown's argument, never once dreaming that the 
tables might be turned upon himself. 

Brown's real purpose was to warn Garfield of 
the rebel's strength and purpose, and he desired, 
above all things, to serve in the ranks of his old 
benefactor. He was just the man that the Union 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 89 

army wanted for a scout, and Garfield, when 
assured of his. loyalty, employed him to recon- 
noitre through the mountain borders of Virginia. 

The safe return of Jordan the following day, 
after many hairbreadth escapes, encouraged Gar- 
field to organize a "secret service," which Eose- 
crans used to call "the eyes of the army." 

It was a long, wearisome march for the Union 
forces, but on the sixth of January, 1862, they 
arrived within six miles of Paint ville. While they 
were halting there, a messenger arrived from 
General Buell with an intercepted letter of Mar- 
shall's to his wife. It disclosed the fact that the 
rebels had four thousand four hundred infantry 
and six hundred cavalry, and that they were daily 
expecting an onslaught of ten thousand from the 
Union forces. 

Garfield assembled a council of his officers. 

" What shall we do ? " he said. " Is it better to 
march at once, or wait for Cranor and his forces? " 

All but one of the officers declared it was better 
to wait, but that one said: "Let us move on at 
once — our fourteen hundred can whip ten thousand 
rebels." 

Garfield paused a moment, as if in deep reflec- 
tion. Then he exclaimed, "Well, forward it is. 
Give the order." 

There were three roads that led down to the 
enemy's intrenchment. One of these was a river 



90 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

road upon the western bank ; another was a very 
winding road and came in at the mouth of Jenny's 
Creek : the third and most direct lay between the 
others, but it was very difficult to pass because of 
the intervening; ridges. 

In order to mislead Marshall as to the real 
strength of his forces, Garfield ordered a small 
division of his infantry to approach by the river 
road, drive in the enemy's pickets, and then move 
rapidly after them, as if preparing an attack upon 
Paintville. A similar force was sent off two 
hours later alono; the mountain road. A third 
detachment was ordered to take the road at the 
mouth of Jenny's creek. 

The result of this strategy was just what Gar- 
field had foreseen. When the pickets on the first 
route were attacked, they hurried back to Paint- 
ville in great confusion, and sent word to Mar- 
shall that the Union army was coming up by the 
river road. A large detachment of the rebel 
forces was at once dispatched to this point, but, 
by the time they reached them, the tidings had 
come that Garfield's forces were approaching by 
the mountain road. The rebel general then coun- 
termanded his first order, only to find his pickets 
had been attacked at another point. Finally, in 
utter confusion, they abandoned Paintville and tied 
to the fortified camp, declaring that the whole 
Union army was in hot pursuit. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 91 

Garfield immediately pushed forward and took 
possession of Paintville. This was on the after- 
noon of January 8th. Later in the evening, a 
rebel spy came to Marshall's camp and told him 
that Cranor, with three thousand three hundred 
men, was within twelve hours' march to the west- 
ward. 

The rebel general naturally concluded that he 
was to be attacked by a band of Union forces far 
outnumbering his own. He therefore broke up 
camp and retreated so hastily that he was obliged 
to leave behind a large quantity of his supplies. 

At nine o'clock in the evening, Garfield, with a 
thousand of his men, took possession of the de- 
serted camp, and waited there for the arrival of 
Cranor. 

Next morning Cranor arrived, but his men were 
so tired and footsore they seemed in no condition 
for making an attack. Garfield, however, knew 
that the time had come for a decisive challenge, 
and so he ordered to the front all who were able to 
march. Eleven hundred, — and four hundred of 
these were from Cranor's exhausted ranks — obeyed 
the call, and hastened after Marshall and his re- 
treating army. 

The Union forces had marched about eighteen 
miles when they came to the mouth of Abbott's 
Creek, three miles below Prestonburg. Here 
Garfield learned that Marshall and his army were 



92 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

encamping on the same stream some three miles 
distant. As it was then nine o'clock in the even- 
ing he ordered his men to put up their tents, and 
then he sent a messenger back to Lieutenant- 
Colonel Sheldon, who had been left in command 
at Paintville, and ordered him to bring up the re- 
mainder of the army as soon as possible. 

The whole night he spent in reconnoitring 
about the country, so eager was he to know the 
exact arrangement of Marshall's troops and the 
probable contingencies of a battle. 

Jordan's ride through the enemy's country had 
been of invaluable service to him. Marshall had 
strongly posted his army on a semi-circular hill at 
the forks of Middle Creek, and was quietly wait- 
ing there in ambuscade for the approach of the 
Union forces. 

It was a chill night, and a driving rain added 
to the cheerlessness of the dreary bivouac in the 
valley. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 93 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Opening of Hostilities. — Brave Charge of the Hiram Students. — Giv- 
ing the Rebels "Hail Columbia." — Sheldon's Reinforcement. — 
The Rebel Commander Falls. — His Army Retreats in Confusion. 

With the first glimmer of light in the east, 
Garfield's men begin their march down into the 
valley. As the advance guard turns a jutting 
ridge, it is fired upon by a company of rebel 
horsemen. Instantly Garfield forms his soldiers 
into a hollow square, and a heavy volley from their 
rifles drives the enemy back. 

Marshall and his whole army must be close by, but 
to find out their exact position, Garfield sends for- 
ward a reconnoitring party. Suddenly a twelve- 
pound shell whirs above the tree -tops, and tears 
up the ground at their feet. But the mounted 
company of twelve go bravely forward ; and as 
they sweep around a curve in the road, another 
shell whistles past them, and they can hear in the 
distance a threatening rumble. 

The enemy's position is at once clearly defined. 
The main body of their army is posted upon the 
top of two ridges at the left of Middle Creek, but 



94 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

there is also a strong detachment upon the right, 
with a battery of heavy artillery to hold the forks 
of the stream. Marshall's plan is to draw the 
Union forces down into the narrow rocky road 
along the Creek, where between two fires, he 
knows it will be an easy matter to hem them in 
and utterly destroy the whole number. 

But Garfield, with his quick intuition, takes in 
the situation at a glance. He immediately orders 
a hundred of his Hiram students to cross the 
stream, climb the ridge where the firing has been 
most frequent, and open the battle. 

Bravely the little company plunge into the icy 
stream, and clinging to the low underbrush, beein 
the perilous ascent. A shower of bullets from two 
thousand rifles is tailing all around them, but 
nothing daunted, they press onward till the summit 
is reached. Then, from every side the deadly 
shots are hurled, and, for a moment, the little band 
begin to waver. 

'' Every man to a tree ! " shouts the leader, Cap- 
tain Williams. " Give them as good as they send, 
boys ! " 

The word passes from lip to lip, and instantly 
from behind the great oaks and maples, they take 
their stand, and open a volley of fire upon the 
rebels. This is followed by a hand-to-hand fight 
with the bayonets, and little by little, the brave 
boys are driven back. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 95 

" To the trees again ! " cries the leader, " we may 
as well die here as in Ohio ! " 

One of the Hiram students, a lad of eighteen, is 
shot through the thigh, and a confederate soldier 
passing by says to him, — 

" Here, boy, give me your musket." " Not the 
gun, but its contents," he replies, and in another 
instant the rebel lies dead at his feet. His compan- 
ion takes up a weapon to kill the brave young 
student, but the latter seizes the dead man's rifle 
and, with unerring aim, fells him to the ground. 

When his comrades bear him away to the camp, 
and a surgeon tells him that the wounded limb 
must be amputated, his only words are : "Oh, 
what will mother do ? " 

The story of the noble lad — Charles Carlton of 
Franklin, Ohio, — is told in the Ohio Senate, two 
weeks later, and a statute is immediately framed 
to make provision for the widows and mothers of 
our soldiers. 

A hundred men like young Carlton present a 
steady resistance to the enemy's fire, but Garfield 
watching them from a rocky height, realizes their 
perilous situation and exclaims, — 

" They will surely be driven back, they will lose 
the hill unless supported." 

Instantly, five hundred of the Ohio Fortieth and 
Forty-second, under Major Pardee and General 
Cranor, are ordered forward. 



96 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" Hurrah for Captain Williams and his Hiram 
boys ! " they shout, as they ford the stream, hold- 
ing their cartridge-boxes high above their heads. 
But the fire of four thousand muskets fall upon 
them and though, — 

" Bravely they fight and well, 
Stormed at with shot and shell," 

the unequal contest is quickly noted by the Union 
commander. 

"This will never do," he exclaims. "Who will 
volunteer to carry the crest of the mountain ? " 

"Let us go forward," cries Colonel Monroe, of 
the Twenty-second Kentucky, "we know every 
inch of the ground." 

"Go in, then," says Garfield, "and give them 
'Hail Columbia!'" 

Crossing the stream a little lower down, they 
mount the ridge to the left, and in ten minutes are 
face to face w 7 ith the rebel army. 

"Don't shoot till you see the eyes of your 
enemy," shouts the colonel, and although the men 
have never been in battle before, they are as cool 
and calm as their commander. 

Five hundred against five thousand ! It was a 
fearful contest, equalled only by the famous charge 
of the "Light Brigade." 

" Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them, 
Volleyed and thundered! " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 97 

And Garfield, standing upon a rock scarred 
with bullets, watched and waited for Sheldon's re- 
inforcements, until, fearing the little band would 
be forced to retreat, he turned to the company 
held back as reserves, threw his military cloak 
into a tree, and exclaimed, — 

" Come on, boys ! It is our turn now to give 
them 'Hail Columbia' ! " And then, as the ballad 
tells the story, — 

" He led, they followed, spreading wide 
Among the rebels routed ; 
From rank to rank, in liberal gift, 
The self-same thing he shouted." 

The short winter's day was almost over. Hotter 
and hotter raged the battle, but the Union forces, 
in spite of their inferior number, were constantly 
gaining ground. They seemed infused with the 
indomitable spirit of their commander. Their 
coolness and intrepidity gave added power to 
every shot, while the enemy, not understanding 
the difficulty of firing "down hill," frequently 
missed aim and let their bullets fall harmlessly 
upon the tree-tops, or far beyond the mark. 

At this juncture, Dr. Pomerene, the surgeon of 
the Ohio Forty-second, saw a gleam of muskets in 
the distance. Hatless and excited, he mounted a 
fleet horse, crossed the stream, and hurried on 
to ascertain what colors were borne by the com- 
ing troops. The glorious star-spangled banner 



98 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

met his eyes, and, drawing nearer, he saluted 
Colonel Sheldon with the longed-for reinforce- 
ments. 

" For God's sake, hurry ! " he cried, " or the 
boys on the other side will be captured ! " 

From his elevated position on the opposite hill, 
Marshall had already descried the starry banner, 
and Sheldon's fresh troops hurrying to the rescue. 

"Retreat/" he shouted to his men, and then, 
pierced by six bullets, he fell to the ground. 
Night closed about the contending armies, the 
rebels were seized with a sudden panic and fled 
wildly in all directions. 

" God bless you, boys ! You have saved Ken- 
tucky ! " exclaimed Garfield, as he led the victo- 
rious troops back to camp. It was, indeed, a 
wonderful contest. The entire loss on the federal 
side was but one killed and eleven wounded. 

"In all the battles of the late war," writes 
Edmund Kirke, in the New York Tribune, 
" there was not another like it. Measured by the 
forces engaged, the valor displayed, and the re- 
sults that followed, it throws into shade the 
achievements of even that mighty host that saved 
the nation." 

It was the first decided victory upon the Union 
side, but, years after, Garfield himself said of the 
skirmish, 

"I see now, that favorably as it terminated, the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 99 

engagement was a very rash and imprudent affair 
on my part. A West Point officer would probably 
have had more caution, and would not have at- 
tempted so unequal a contest. I didn't knoAV any 
better, then." 



100 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Garfield's Address to his Soldiers. — Starvation Stares them in the 
Face. — Garfield takes Command of the "Sandy Valley." — Peril- 
ous Trip up the River. — Garfield's Address to the Citizens 
of Sandy Valley. —Pound Gap. — Garfield Resolves to Seize 
the Guerillas. — The Old Mountaineer. — Successful Attack. — 
General Buell's Message. — Garfield is Appointed Brigadier- 
General. 

Marshall and his entire force were dislodged 
from their intrenchments. Garfield had obeyed 
General Buell's orders, and the following day he 
issued the following address to his army : — 

"Soldiers of the Eighteenth Brigade: 

" I am proud of you all ! In four weeks 
you have marched some eighty, and some a 
hundred miles, over almost impassable roads. 
One night in four you have slept, often in 
the^ storm, with only a winter sky above your 
heads. You have marched in the face of a foe 
of more than double your number — led on by 
chiefs who have won a national renown under the 
old flag — intrenched in hills of his own choos- 
ing, and strengthened by all the appliances of 
military art. With no experience but the con- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 101 

sciousness of your own manhood, you have driven 
him from his strongholds, pursued his inglorious 
flight, and compelled him to meet you in battle. 
When forced to fight, he sought the shelter of 
rocks and hills ; you drove him from his position, 
leaving scores of his bloody dead unburied. His 
artillery thundered against you, but you compelled 
him to flee by the light of his burning stores, and 
to leave even the banner of his rebellion behind 
him. I greet you as men. Our common country 
will not forget you. She will not forget the 
sacred dead who fell beside you, nor those of your 
comrades who won scars of honor on the field. 
I have called you from the pursuit that you may 
regain vigor for still greater exertions. Let no 
one tarnish his well-earned honor by any act un- 
worthy an American soldier. Eemember your 
duties as American citizens, and sacredly respect 
the rights and property of those with whom you 
may come in contact. Let it not be said that 
good men dread the approach of an American 
army. Officers and soldiers, your duty has been 
nobly done. For this I thank yo u." 

The enemy, after burning their supplies and 
baggage of every description, had made their 
escape through Pound Gap, and Garfield knew 
that it would be worse than useless to pursue them 
any farther. His own little force was greatly ex- 
hausted and short of food, as it had started with 



102 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

only two days' rations. A heavy rain-storm had 
caused an overflow of the Big Sandy, and a large 
part of the valley was under water. The hoats 
were all detained in the Ohio, and among them the 
steamers that Garfield had loaded with provisions 
for his troops. Meanwhile, starvation stared them 
in the face. Foraging was strictly forbidden, and 
if it had been possible for them to march over the 
muddy roads, it would have been in disobedience 
to orders, for the enemy might at any moment re- 
turn and take possession of the country. 

The young commander saw but one way out of 
the difficulty. Calling Brown, his faithful scout, 
he said to him, — 

" What do you say to our going down the river 
and hurrying up the supplies ? The boatmen say 
it can't be done, but you and I have had some ex- 
perience on the water." 

"I say, gin'ral," answered Brown, "I'd ruther 
drown than starve, any day. Jest give me the 
word for 't, and I'm yer right-hand man ! " 

"We'll go, Brown," was the laconic reply, 
and, boarding a small skiff, they floated down 
the seething waters to the mouth of the Big 
Sandy. 

Here they found a small steamboat, called the 
" Sandy Valley," which had formerly been in the 
quartermaster's service. This, Garfield loaded 
with supplies, and ordered up river. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 103 

The captain, who was a secessionist, declared it 
was impossible to stem the current in such a 
flood. The water was at least sixty feet deep, and 
the trees along the banks were covered to their 
topmost branches. 

" I will take the command of this steamer," said 
Garfield in an authoritative tone, at the same time 
ordering the captain and his men to get on board. 

Placing Brown at the bow, Garfield took his 
stand at the helm. The most careful steerino- was 
necessary, for the water was full of dangerous 
snags and treacherous banks of sand. At one 
time the boat ran aground. 

" We must get a line to the opposite shore ! " 
exclaimed Garfield. 

"It can't be done," said the rebel captain ; "its 
death to any man that attempts it ! " 

" It must be done ! " cried Garfield, as he sprang 
into a yawl and called Brown to follow. For a 
few moments it seemed as if the little boat would 
be overborne by the current and utterly sub- 
merged. But the strong arm and indomitable Mill 
at last prevailed. Another moment of fearful 
suspense, and the opposite shore was gained. It 
was an easy matter, then, to fasten the rope, con- 
struct a windlass, and draw the steamboat out of 
the mud. 

For two days and the greater part of one night, 
Garfield stood at the wheel, and at nine o'clock 






104 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the following morning the provisions were safely 
landed at Paintville. 

"Had it not been for my experience on the 
canal-boat," he said, afterwards, "I could never 
have managed that trip up the Big Sandy." 

When the half-famished men saw the boat and 
their noble commander at the helm, they could 
hardly contain themselves. They shouted and 
cheered, and would have borne him in triumph 
upon their shoulders had he not made a resolute 
protest against such manifestations. 

The Avhole neighboring country about Paintville 
were greatly terrified when they heard of Mar- 
shall's retreat. The rebel troops spread such 
alarming reports of the hostile intentions of the 
Union forces that the people left their homes and 
took refuge in the woods. 

To quiet their fears, Garfield issued the follow- 
ing:— 

" Citizens of Sandy Valley : 

" I have come among you to restore the honor 
of the Union, and to bring back the old banner 
which you once loved, but which, by the machina- 
tions of evil men, and by mutual misunderstand- 
ing, has been dishonored among you. To those 
who are in arms against the Federal Government, 
I offer only the alternative of battle or unconditional 
surrender. But to those who have taken no part 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 105 

in this war, who are in no way aiding or abetting 
the enemies of this Union — even to those who 
hold sentiments averse to the Union, but will give 
no aid or comfort to its enemies — I offer the full 
protection of the government, both in their persons 
and property. 

" Let those who have been seduced away from 
the love of their country to follow after and aid 
the destroyers of our peace, lay down their arms, 
return to their homes, bear true allegiance to the 
Federal Government, and they shall also enjoy 
like protection. The army of the Union wages no 
war of plunder, but comes to bring back the pros- 
perity of peace. Let all peace-loving citizens, 
who have fled from their homes, return and resume 
again the pursuits of peace and industry. If cit- 
izens have suffered any outrages by the soldiers 
under my command, I invite them to make known 
their complaints to me, and their wrongs shall be 
redressed and the offenders punished. I expect 
the friends of the Union in this valley to banish 
from among them all private feuds, and let a 
liberal love of country direct their conduct toward 
those who have been so sadly estrayed and mis- 
guided, hoping that these days of turbulence may 
soon be ended and the days of the Republic soon 
return. 

"J. A. Garfield, 
" Colonel Commanding Brigade." 



106 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

This promise of protection allayed the fears of 
the people, and they began to flock about the 
Union camp. From them Garfield learned that 
Marshall and his forces were still lurking about 
the country. At last, through the scout, Jordan, 
he found out that a grand muster of the rebel 
militia was to meet in Pound Gap on the 15th of 
March, and that, by uniting their forces, they 
hoped to enter Kentucky and drive out the Union 
army. 

Pound Gap is a narrow opening in the Cumber- 
land mountains and leads into Virginia. On the 
top of the gorge through which the road passes, 
the rebels had built a long line of huts ; and, 
directly across the gap, they had thrown up a 
breastwork, behind which they declared five hun- 
dred men could easily resist five thousand. 

About six hundred of the rebel militia under 
Major Thompson had been stationed here for a 
number of weeks. Forming guerilla bands, they 
would come down into the peaceful valleys and 
commit all sorts of depredations. Before the ter- 
rified inhabitants could offer any resistance they 
would retreat to their strongholds, where pursuit 
was impossible. 

Garfield felt his work in Kentucky would not be 
done until some effort had been made to break up 
these mountain hordes. When he heard of the in- 
tended muster, he set out with seven hundred men, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 107 

and, although the way was beset with difficulties, 
he pushed on through swollen streams and muddy 
roads until he was within two miles of the rebel 
garrison. His plan was to send one hundred of 
his horsemen up the road to attract the enemy's 
attention, while he, with the six hundred infantry, 
were climbing the steep side of the mountain and 
attacking the rebels on the flank. 

He could find no one, however, to act as a guide 
in this perilous expedition, until one morning an 
old man, with long hair and snow-white beard, 
came into camp. 

" I came down the mountain ten days ago," he 
said, " and where I can come down, ye can go up." 

" But, do you think we can get over the road 
safely?" asked Garfield ; " they tell me in winter 
the slope is a sheet of ice with three feet of snow 
on the summit." 

"Wall," said the old man ; " ye'll hev to make 
yer own path most likely, but it's worth yer 
trouble if ye can only ketch that nest o' murderin' 
thieves as is pesterin' the hull country ! " 

Garfield looked steadily into the old man's face 
with that peculiar searching glance of his, and then 
said, — 

"We will do it to-morrow, and you shall be 
our guide." 

The snow was falling in blinding drifts next 
morning when they commenced their ascent. The 



108 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

ridge rises to a height of two thousand feet above 
the valley at this point, and sudden precipices 
yawn on every side. A single misstep is certain 
death ; and slowly, cautiously the little hand follow 
their weird-looking guide up the icy slope. 

At length the old man turns suddenly to Gar- 
field, saying,— 

" The rebels are just a half mile from here ; 
press on at the double and ye hev 'em ! " 

A firing from the picket-guard greets them, and 
the enemy call together all their forces to resist 
the intruders. 

But Garfield and his men are equal to the 
occasion. 

"Press forward, scale the hill, and carry it with 
the baj'onet ! " cries the Union commander, and 
with loud cheers the order is obeyed. 

Little by little, the rebels fall back into the 
forest. The undaunted band follow with gleaming 
weapons, and before night are comfortably estab- 
lished in the enemy's quarters. Next morning, they 
burn the long huts, some sixty in number, destroy 
the breastworks, and set out for their own camp at 
Piketon. A week later, the order comes to march 
to Louisville, and the campaign on the Big Sandy 
comes to a successful close. 

Kentucky is thoroughly rid of the rebel hordes, 
and General Buell is so delighted that he sends to 
Garfield the following message : — 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 109 

" The general commanding takes occasion to 
thank General Garfield and his troops for their 
successful campaign against the rebel force under 
General Marshall, on the Big Sandy, and their 
gallant conduct in battle. They have overcome 
formidable difficulties in the character of country, 
conditions of the roads and the inclemency of the 
season, and, without artillery, have in several 
engagements, terminating in the battle of Middle 
Creek, on the 10th inst., driven him back into the 
mountains, with a loss of a large amount of bag- 
gage and stores, and many of his men killed or 
captured. These services have called into action 
the highest qualities of a soldier, — fortitude, per- 
severance and courage." 

President Lincoln, to whom the news of " Middle 
Creek " had come like a benediction in his dis- 
couragement, immediately appointed Colonel Gar- 
field a Brigadier-General. 



110 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XV. 

Garfield takes Command of the Twentieth Brigade. — Battles of Shiloh 
and Corinth. — The fugitive Slave. — Attack of Malaria. —Home 
Furlough. — Summoned to Washington. — Death of his Child. 
— Ordered to Join General Roseerans.— Kirke's description of 
Garfield. 

When Garfield reached Louisville he found that 
General Buell had hastened on to the assistance of 
Grant, who was then at Pittsburg Landing. Over- 
taking General Buell at Columbia, Tennessee, he 
was assigned to the command of the Twentieth 
Brigade, and in the famous battle of Shiloh won 
new laurels. 

In the long and wearisome siege of Corinth, 
Garfield's brigade did signal service ; and in June, 
18G2, they were sent to repair and protect the 
Memphis and Charleston railroad. Here, as well 
as at Huntsville, Alabama, Garfield's old skill at 
carpentry came into play ; and he gained no small 
renown for his fine military engineering. 

It was while in the command of this brigade that 
a fugitive slave came running into his camp, badly 
wounded and terribly frightened. A few minutes 
after, his master came riding up, and, with a 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. Ill 

volley of oaths, demanded his "property." Gar- 
field was not present, so he passed on to the division 
commander. This man was a believer in the theory 
that fugitive slaves should be returned to their 
masters, and that the Union soldiers should see 
that this was done. He accordingly wrote a per- 
emptory order to General Garfield, in whose com- 
mand the slave was thought to be hidden, telling 
him to hunt out the fugitive and deliver him over 
to his master. 

General Garfield took the order and quietly 
wrote on the back of it, — 

"I respectfully, but positively, decline to al- 
low my command to search for, or deliver up 
any fugitive slaves. I conceive that they are 
here for quite another purpose. The command 
is open, and no obstacles will be placed in 
the way of search." When reminded by one 
of his staff-officers that these rash words might 
bring him up before a court-martial, he re- 
plied, — 

" The matter may as well be tested first as last. 
Right is right, and I do not propose to mince 
matters at all.* My soldiers are here for other 
purposes than hunting and returning fugitive 
slaves. My people, on the Western Eeserve of 
Ohio, did not send my boys and myself down here 
to do that kind of business, and they will back me 
up in my action." 



112 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The order was returned with the indorsement 
unchanged, and nothing more was said about it. 

The exposures of the past year, together with 
the malarial atmosphere of the South, began at 
last to tell upon the strong physique of the young 
commander, and he was obliged to take a few 
weeks' furlough. He had hardly started for home 
however, when the secretary of war, who had now 
learned his rare qualities, issued orders for him 
to relieve General Morgan of his command at 
Cumberland Gap. 

Garfield w r as too sick to obey, and, a month later 
the secretary desired him to report in person at 
Washington, as soon as his health would allow. 
A new honor awaited him here, for so high an 
estimate had been placed upon his judgment and 
his technical knowledge of law that he had been 
chosen one of the first members in the court-mar- 
tial of Fitz John Porter. 

While at Washington, he was called home by 
the sickness and death of his eldest child, the * 
"Little Trot," whose simple headstone in the 
cemetery at Hiram bears the touching inscrip- 
tion, — 

" She has gained the crown without the cross." 

In the following January, Garfield was ordered 
to join General Rosecrans, then in command of the 
Army of the Cumberland. It is said that Rose- 
crans was somewhat prejudiced against Garfield 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 113 

because he had heard of him as a preacher who 
had taken up politics. A few days' acquaintance 
however, so thoroughly changed the General's 
opinion, that he gave Garfield the choice of joining 
his staff or commanding a brigade. He chose the 
former, and Rosecrans, writing of him, said, — 

" I found him to be a competent and efficient 
officer, an earnest and devoted patriot, and a man 
of the highest honor." 

It is interesting to read just here Edmund 
Kirke's graphic picture of Garfield, "Down in 
Tennessee," which was written in 1863. 

" In a corner by the window, seated at a small 
pine desk — a sort of packing-box perched on a 
long-legged stool, and divided into pigeon-holes, 
with a turn-down lid, was a tall, deep-chested, 
sinewy-built man, with regular, massive features, 
a full, clear blue eye, and a high broad forehead, 
rising into a ridge over the eyes, as if it had been 
thrown up by a plough. There was something 
singularly q^gaging in his open expressive face, 
and his whole appearance indicated great reserve 
power. His uniform, though cleanly brushed 
and sitting easily upon him, had a sort of demo- 
cratic air, and everything about him seemed to de- 
note that he was a man of the people. A rusty 
slouched hat, large enough to have fitted Daniel 
Webster, lay on the desk before him ; but a glance 
at that was not needed to convince me that his 



114 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

head held more than the common share of brains. 
Though he is yet young — not thirty-three — 
the reader has heard of him, and if he lives he 
will make his name long remembered in our his- 
tory." 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 115 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Rosecrans Quarrels with the War Department.— Garfield as Mediator. 
— Remarkable Military Document.— The Tullahoma Campaign. — 
Insurrection averted. —Chattanooga. — Battle of Chickamauga.— 
Brave Defence of Gen. Thomas. — Garfield's Famous Ride. 

Just at the time Garfield succeeded Garesche as 
Rosecrans' chief-of-staff, that officer was having- a 
series of bickerings with the War Department. 
In his demands for more cavalry and arms, Gar- 
field fully sympathized, but his unreasonable re- 
quests, oftentimes couched in the most exasperat- 
ing" language, the new chief endeavored to modify 
or repress. 

From January until June, Rosecrans' army had 
lain idle at Murfreesboro'. With the opening of 
spring the War Department urged him to advance. 
Grant had begun his campaign against Vicksburg ; 
and Halleck declared that unless Rosecrans made 
some decided movement, the rebel General, Bragg, 
would send a part of his force to aid Pemberton 
at Vicksburg. 

General Rosecrans, however, still delayed ; he 
waited for reinforcements, for the roads to be in 
better condition, for the corn to ripen. It was 



116 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

better to keep quiet, he said, while Grant was at 
Vicksburg, for should that General happen to fail, 
all the rebels of the surrounding section, as well as 
those under General Johnston, would confront him. 

At first, Garfield approved of Rosecrans' delay, 
but as soon as his army was thoroughly reinforced 
with men and supplies, he urged him to make an ad- 
vance. Through the secret service system which he 
had established since Jordan's wonderful expedi- 
tion, Garfield discovered that Bragg's army was 
greatly reduced, and he felt assured that the time 
had come for a decisive blow. At last, General 
Rosecrans sent a formal letter to his corps, division, 
and cavalry generals asking their opinion concern- 
ing the feasibility and wisdom of such a movement. 
Not one of the seventeen generals was in favor of 
an immediate or even an early advance. 

Garfield took the answers sent in from the gen- 
erals, and in one of the ablest military documents 
on record,* he refuted every objection raised, 
and added therewith such powerful arguments in 
favor of an immediate advance, that General 
Rosecrans was convinced. Twelve days later, the 
army moved, much to the chagrin of the other 
officers, who declared it was a rash and fatal step 
for which Garfield alone should be held responsible. 

It was the opening of the famous Tullahoma 
campaign — a campaign remarkable throughout for 

* For document in full, see Addenda I. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 117 

its fine conception and able execution. Bragg's 
army would have been utterly destroyed had the 
advance been made a few days earlier; as it was, 
the rebel forces were finally driven south of the 
Tennessee, a thousand five hundred and seventy- 
five prisoners were captured, together with con- 
siderable ammunition, and the state of Tennessee 
was again under the flag of the Union. 

Almost on the boundary line between Tennessee 
and Georgia stands the village of Chattanooga. 
It is on the southern bank of the Tennessee river, 
and to the north Lookout Mountain rises almost 
perpendicularly to a height of twenty-four hundred 
feet.. Missionary Ridge, which is a much lower 
elevation, lies upon the eastern side, and along its 
base flows the West Chickamauga Creek that 
empties into the Tennessee just at Chattanooga. 
On the. opposite side is Pigeon Mountain. 

The Tullahoma campaign had forced Bragg and 
his remaining troops across the Tennessee, and they 
were now posted all along the southern bank of the 
stream from Chattanooga far down toward Atlanta. 
Rosecrans' army had encamped themselves on 
the west with a line of fortifications one hundred 
and fifty miles long, while General Burnside had 
moved into Eastern Tennessee, and taken posses- 
sion of Knoxville. The great problem now was 
how to force Bragg from his position at Chatta- 
nooga. 



118 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP 

It was about this time that Rosecrans received a 
letter, in which a plan for arming the negroes and 
sending them throughout the slave states, was pro- 
posed. 

" It would doubtless end the rebellion at once," 
said one of Rosecrans' officers ; " and the letter 
says that no blood would be shed except in self- 
defence." 

" But, think what vengeance the blacks might 
take, if suddenly let loose upon their masters ! " 
exclaimed Rosecrans. " I must talk the matter 
over with Garfield." 

After a careful reading of the letter, the ckief- 
of-staff said, quietly, but firmly, — 

"It will never do, General. We don't want to 
whip by such means. If the slaves, of their own 
accord, rise and assert their original right to them- 
selves, that will be their own affair; but we can 
have no complicity with them without outraging 
the moral sense of the civilized world." 

" But what if the other departments should en- 
courage these uprisings ? " 

"We must do all in our power to prevent them," 
exclaimed Garfield. 

Rosecrans. whose confidence in his chief-of-staff 
was daily increasing, immediately took measures 
to stop the movement, and the insurrection, with 
all its attendant horrors, was averted. 

To Garfield was now submitted the task of plan- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



119 



ning some movement which would oblige Bragg to 
leave Chattanooga. General Halleck, then in 
Washington at the head of the War Department, 
had sent to Rosecrans the following telegram, — 

"The orders for the advance of your army are per- 
emptory." 

The only movement that could be made with any 
advantage at this time, would be for the Union 
army to cross the river in three divisions and cut 
off Bragg from all communication with Atlanta, 
whence he was expecting supplies and reinforce- 
ments. 

Pontoons were, therefore, brought forward, and 
materials prepared for building a couple of bridges. 
This was done with all possible secrecy, but high 
up on Lookout Mountain the signal corps of 
Bragg's army, with their field-glasses, were stealth- 
ily watching, and promptly reporting every move- 
ment. 

The Confederates readily yielded their post at 
Chattanooga, but it was only to give the appear- 
ance of a retreat. In reality, they were concen- 
trating all their forces along the banks of the 
Chickamauga, and already their troops outnum- 
bered Rosecrans' by several thousands. Bragg's 
plan was to cross the Chickamauga at the various 
bridges and fords, push across Missionary Ridge 
to Rossville, and then, closing in upon Rosecrans' 



120 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

army, completely destroy it by the force of his 
superior numbers. 

Garfield, by means of his secret service system, 
had discovered this plan of the rebel commander, 
and apprized Rosecrans, who was now on the alert 
and confronting Bragg's troops at every feasible 
point of the road. 

" The resistance offered by the enemy's cavalry," 
writes the Confederate general, "as well as the 
difficulties arising from the bad and narrow coun- 
try roads, caused unexpected delays." 

On the morning of the 19th of September, the 
battle began on the banks of the Chickamauga be- 
tween Pigeon Mountain and Missionary Ridge. It 
raged fiercely all day, and when night closed down 
upon the contending armies, the contest was still 
undecided. 

Bragg's army had been reinforced by a large 
detachment under General Longstreet, and Mc- 
Lawes' division was expected every moment. The 
prospect seemed very dark to the Union army, 
whose scattered troops numbered at most but 
sixty thousand, and whose supplies were cut off in 
all directions. They still held, however, the road 
to Rossville, the one especial point for which Bragg 
had been fighting. 

It was a fortunate turn of affairs that gave to 
General Thomas the command of the left wins: of 
Rosecrans' army. Here it was that the brunt of 






JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 121 

the battle came, on the second clay at Chick- 
amauga ; and, through the whole fearful struggle, 
the brave general and his devoted troops showed 
the same invincible spirit that had won laurels for 
them in the victories of Mill Spring, Pittsburg 
Landing, and Stone River. 

Garfield, as chief-of- staff, kept his place by 
Eosecrans' side until, at a critical point in the 
battle, he turned to his commanding officer, and 
said, — 

"General, I ask permission to return and join 
General Thomas." Consent was reluctantly grant- 
ed, for, although it was necessary to inform Gen- 
eral Thomas of the condition of affairs, Eosecrans 
knew that Garfield was undertaking a fearful risk. 

"As you will," he said, at last; "God bless 
you ; we may not meet again. Good-bye ! " 

With the brave Captain Gaw as his guide, and 
two orderlies, Garfield sets out on his famous ride. 
There are eight miles to be crossed before they can 
reach Thomas ; they ride swiftly and securely 
through the neighboring forest, but as they emerge 
from the narrow road at Eossville Gap, a shower 
of bullets falls about them. Lono-street's skirmish- 
ers and sharp-shooters have surrounded them, and 
the two orderlies fall from their horses, mortally 
wounded. 

Garfield spurs on his magnificent charger, leaps 
a fence, and finds himself in an open field, white 



122 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

with ripening cotton. Only a slight ridge now 
divides him from the outposts of Thomas's division, 
but, as he makes a zig-zag ascent up the slope, the 
gray-coats send volley after volley of whizzing 
bullets, and suddenly his horse is struck beneath 
him. It is only a flesh wound, however, and the 
fiery creature is urged forward with still greater 
impetuosity. 

Another second, and the crest of the hill is 
gained Horse and rider gallop down the other side 
and a band of mounted blue-coats surround them. 

" Good God, Garfield ! " cries General McCook, 
"I thought you were killed. How you have 
escaped is a miracle." 

Though twice wounded, Garfield's horse plunges 
on, through tangled under-brush, over fences, up 
hill and down, until the remaining four miles are 
accomplished. Then, passing through another 
shower of shot and shell, Garfield catches a glimpse 
of Thomas. 

" There he is ! " he shouts, " God bless the old 
hero ! he has saved the army ! " 

In five minutes more; Garfield is by the side of 
Thomas ; the perilous ride is safely over, the mes- 
sage is delivered. But look ! the noble horse is 
staggering, and now it drops down dead at llie feet 
of General Thomas. 

A half hour longer the battle raged desper- 
ately, and then with a sudden break in their 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



123 



lines the rebels abandoned the fight and began 
to retreat. 

Garfield sat down behind a dead tree and wrote a 
dispatch to General Rosecrans. In the midst of 
the heaviest firing, a white dove was seen to hover 
around for several minutes, and then to settle down 
on the top of the tree above Garfield's head. 

" A good omen of peace ! " exclaimed General 
Wood, who was standing close by. Garfield said 
nothing, but kept on with his writing. 

At seven o'clock that evening, a battery of six 
Napoleon guns, by order of Generals Granger and 
Garfield, thundered after the retreating rebels. 

The battle of Chickamauga was ended; the 
Union army had won the day. 

"Again, O fair September night! 

Beneath the moon and stars, 
I see, through memories dark and bright, 

The altar-fires of Mars. 
The morning breaks with screaming guns 

From batteries dark and dire, 
And where the Chickamauga runs 

Red runs the muskets' fire. 

"I see bold Longstreet's dai-kening host 

Sweep through our lines of flame, 
And hear again, 'The right is lost! ' 

Swart Rosecrans exclaim! 
'Rut not the left,' young Garfield cries: 

' From that we must not sever, 
While Thomas holds the field that lies 

On Chickamauga River.' 



124 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" Through tongues of flame, through meadows brown, 

Pry valley roads concealed, 
Ohio's hero dashes down 

Upon the rebel field. 
And swift, on reeling charger borne, 

He threads the wooded plain, 
By twice a hundred cannon mown, 

And reddened with the slain. 

"But past the swathes of carnage dire, 

The Union guns he hears, 
And gains the left, begirt with fire, 

And thus the heroes cheers : — 
'While stands the left, yon (lag o'erhead, 

Shall Chattanooga stand ! ' 
'Let the Napoleons rain their lead! ' 

Was Thomas's command. 

" Back swept the gray brigades of Bragg; 

The air with victory rung; 
And Wurzel's ' Rally round the flag! ' 

'31 id Union cheers was sung. 
The flag on Chattanooga's height 

In twilight's crimson waved, 
And all the clustered stars of white 

Were to the Union saved, 

" O Chief-of-staff ! the nation's fate. 

That red field crossed with thee, 
The triumph of the camp and state, 

The hope of liberty! 
O Nation! free from sea to sea, 

With union blessed forever, 
Not vainly heroes fought for thee 

By Chickamauga's River." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 125 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Roseerans' Official Report. — Sixteen Years Later. — Promotion to 
Major-General. — Elected to Congress. — Resigns his Commission 
in the Army. — -Endowed by Nature and Education for a Public 
Speaker. — Moral Character. — Youngest Member of House of 
Representatives. — One Secret of Success — First Speech. — Wade- 
Davis Manifesto. ■ — Extracts from various Speeches. 

General Rosecrans, in his official report of the 
battles of Chickamauga, writes, — 

"To Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, 
chief-of-staff, I am especially indebted for the 
clear and ready manner in which he seized the 
points of action and movement, and expressed in 
order the ideas of the general commanding." 

To this meed of praise General "Wood adds, — 

" It affords me much pleasure to signalize the 
presence with my command, for a length of time 
during the afternoon (present during the period 
of hottest fighting), of another distinguished offi- 
cer, Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, chief- 
of-staff. After the disastrous rout on the right, 
General Garfield made his way back to the battle- 
field (showing clearly that the road was open to all 
who might choose to follow it), and came to where 
my command was engaged. The brigade which 



126 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

made so determined a resistance on the crest of 
the narrow ridge during all the long September 
afternoon, had been commanded by General Gar- 
field when he belonged to my division. The men 
remarked his presence with much satisfaction, and 
were delighted that he was a witness of the splen- 
did fighting they were doing." 

In connection with these reports, it is interesting 
to recall Garfield's address to his comrades, six- 
teen years later, when some twelve hundred of the 
veteran volunteers of Ohio visited him at his home 
in Mentor. In response to an address of General 
M. D. Leggett, he said, in his hearty, friendly 
way, — 

tf Any man that can see twelve hundred com- 
rades in the front door-yard has as much reason to 
be proud as for anything that can well happen to 
him in this world. To see twelve hundred men 
from almost every regiment of the state, to see a 
consolidated field report of survivors of the war 
sixteen years after it is over, is a great sight for 
any man to look on. I greet you all with grati- 
tude for this visit. Its personal compliment is 
great, but there is another thought in it far greater 
than that to me, and greater to you. 

"Just over yonder, about ten miles, when I was 
a mere lad, I heard the finest political speech of 
my life. It was a speech of Joshua E. Giddings. 
He had come home to appeal to his constituents. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 127 

A Southern man drew a pistol on him while he 
was- speaking in favor of human liberty, and 
marched over to him to shoot him down, to stop 
his speech and quench the voice of liberty. 

" I remember but one thing the old hero said in 
the course of that speech so long ago, and it was 
this, — 

" f I knew I was speaking for liberty, and I felt 
that if an assassin shot me down, my speech would 
still go on and triumph.' 

"Well, now, these twelve hundred, and the one 
hundred times twelve hundred, and the one million 
of men that went out into the field of battle to 
fight for our Union, feel as that speaker felt, that 
if they should all be shot down the cause of liberty 
would still go on. 

"You all, and the Union, felt that around you, 
and above you, and behind you, was a force and 
a cause and an immortal truth that would outlive 
your bodies and mine, and survive all our brigades, 
and all our armies, and all our battles. 

"Here you are to-day ; in the same belief we 
shall die ; and yet we believe that after us the 
immortal truth for which we fought will live in a 
united nation, a united people, against all factions, 
against all sections, against all divisions, so long 
as there shall be a continent of rivers, and moun- 
tains, and lakes. 

" It was this great belief that lifted you all up 



128 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

into the heroic height of great soldiers in war ; and 
it is my belief that you cherish it to-day, and 
carry it with you in all your pilgrimages and in 
all your reunions. In that great belief and in that 
inspiring faith, I meet you and greet you to-day, 
and with it we will go on to whatever fate has in 
store for ws." 

Ah ! how little the devoted band of comrades 
dreamed that bright October morning, with what 
a new and solemn meaning before another twelve 
months those earnest words would come back to 
them ! 

Four weeks after the battle of Chickamauga, 
General Rosecrans sent Garfield on to Washington 
to report minutely to the War Department and to 
the President, the position, deeds, resources, etc., 
of the army at Chattanooga. In the mean time 
he had received the promotion of major-general 
" for gallant and meritorious services at the battle 
of Chickamauga ; " and during the year previous, 
the Nineteenth Congressional District of Ohio had 
elected him as their representative to the Thirty- 
Eighth Congress. 

Garfield's whole heart and soul were with the 
army, he would have preferred to serve his country 
on the field rather than in the halls of state; but 
when he expressed his desire to President Lincoln, 
the latter urged him to resign his commission and 
come to Congress. There were plenty of major- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 129 

generals, he said, but able statesmen — like angels' 
visits — Avere few and far between. 

It was universally believed, at this time, that the 
war was drawing to a close ; and still another con- 
sideration that influenced Garfield in his decision 
was the fact that a voice in military legislation 
might be of great assistance to his comrades in 
arms. So, on the 5th of December, 1863, after 
three years of military life, he resigned his army 
commission with its high emoluments, for the poor 
pay "and arduous work of a Congressman. 

It is a little singular that he should have filled 
in Congress the very seat left vacant by the death 
of Joshua R. Giddings, his boyhood's hero. Did 
the mantle of this brave Elijah fall upon him, too, 
I wonder ? 

Upon his arrival at Washington, Garfield, with 
his characteristic energy and perseverance, began 
a thorough course of study upon all topics with 
which he might have to deal, giving especial at- 
tention to commerce, manufactures, finance, the 
tariff, taxation, and international law. Every spare 
moment was turned to the best account ; an intimate 
friend says he was seldom seen without a book 
in his hand, or in his pocket. 

Both by nature and education, Garfield seemed 1 
specially endowed for the office of a public speaker. 
He had a ready flow of language that practice 
in debating clubs, the teachers desk, at the bar, 



130 Life and public services of 

and in the pulpit had rendered apt, pointed, and 
polished. His tall, massive figure, powerful voice, 
and dignified manner gave additional weight to 
every word that fell from his lips, while his fine 
scholarship, extensive reading and wonderful 
memory furnished an inexhaustible " reserve fund " 
of illustration and imagery. But above all and 
through all, was the vital power of a warm, 
sympathetic, generous heart. 

" His moral character," writes President Hins- 
dale, "was the fit crown to his physical and intel- 
lectual nature. No man had a kinder heart or a 
purer mind. Naturally, and without conscious 
plan or effort, he drew men to him as the magnet 
the iron filings." 

He had been the youngest man in the Ohio 
senate, the youngest brigadier-general, and now, 
at the age of thirty-two, he was found to be the 
youngest member of the House of Representa- 
tives. To make his mark among so many brilliant 
intellects, so many fine orators, so many old and 
well-tried statesmen, as graced the legislation halls 
of the nation at that critical period of our history, 
required in the young and then almost unknown 
congressman " a peculiar combination of strong 
talents and intellectual acuteness." 

One secret of his success lay in his "genius for 
hard work." He was not one to take ideas at 
second-hand ; he was never satisfied until he had 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 131 

sifted the subject in hand to the very bottom, and 
when once assured of the truth and right of any 
matter, no power on earth could move him. 

" Comparatively few men or women," he said 
one day to a friend, " take the trouble to think for 
themselves. Most people frame their opinions 
from what they read or hear others say. I noticed 
this in early life, but never saw the evil of it until 
I went to Congress." 

From the very first, Garfield made his influence 
felt in the Hall of Representatives. He was strong 
enough to break over the bars that usually restrict 
the new and younger members of Congress, and 
soon took up the gauntlet with debaters like 
Thaddeus Stevens, N. P. Banks, Roscoe Conkling, 
and other old leaders in the legislative halls. 

It was a tumultuous period in our national 
history ; the War of the Rebellion had brought to 
the surface many questions of debate that required 
the utmost thought and deliberation, and upon 
whose decision hung the weightiest of results. 

But Garfield as some able writer says, was "a 
man who was always equal to the greatest oppor- 
tunity ; often surpassed it. He was great on great 
occasions, because in temperament, intelligence, 
enthusiasm, and eloquence, he rose, like air, to 
its highest limit." 

The first speech he delivered of any length, was 
on January 28th, 1864, and was a reply to his 



132 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Democratic colleague, Mr. Finck. It was in favor 
of the confiscation of rebel property, and the fol- 
lowing passage will give an idea of his style of 
argument in those early days : — 

"The war was announced by proclamation, and 
it must end by proclamation. We can hold the 
insurgent states in military subjection half a cen- 
tury — if need be, until they are purged of their 
poison and stand up clean before the country. 
They must come back with clean hands, if they 
come at all. I hope to see in all those states the 
men who fought and suffered for the truth, till- 
ing the fields on which they pitched their tents. I 
hope to see them, like old Kaspar of Blenheim, on 
the summer evenings, with their children upon 
their knees, and pointing out the spot where brave 
men fell and marble commemorates it." 

His answer to Mr. Long, in the campaign of 
1804, when McClellan was proposed as the Demo- 
cratic candidate, will never be forgotten. It was 
delivered on the impulse of the moment and ex- 
cited the wildest applause throughout the House. 
The. older members began to realize what a grow- 
ing power they had in their midst, and were not 
slow to seek Garfield's assistance when they had 
sonic pet measure to bring forward. 

As the time drew near for holding the Congres- 
sional Convention of 1864, in the Nineteenth Dis- 
trict, a report was circulated in the Western Ke- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 133 

serve, that Garfield was the author of the famous 
Wade-Davis manifesto. 

The convention wished to nominate him, but 
hesitated. Would he not come forward and ex- 
plain himself? 

Now this was just what Garfield was longing to 
do. With a firm step he walked up to the plat- 
form and in a brief, trenchant speech, declared 
that although he had not written the Wade-Davis 
letter, he was in sympathy with the authors. If 
the Nineteenth District did not want a representa- 
tive who would assert his independence of thought 
and action, it must find another man. Having 
stated his conviction of the truth in the plainest, 
strongest terms, he came down from the platform 
and quietly left the hall. A great noise from the 
building greeted his ears as he turned the street- 
corner. He thought they were having an indig- 
nation meeting, and he fully expected to be 
apprized of his rejection. 

To his astonishment, however, he learned that 
the noise he had heard was the cheering of the 
people upon his nomination. 

The convention had been taken entirely by sur- 
prise. Before any of his opponents had had time 
to say a word, an Ashtabula delegate had risen 
to his feet and declared that " a man who could 
face a delegation like that, ought to be nominated 
by acclamation." Then, the popular feeling ex^ 



134 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

pressed itself freely, and Garfield was renominated 
with great applause. 

" It was a bold action on my part," he said 
afterward, "hut it showed me the truth of the 
old maxim that f Honesty is the best policy,' and 
I have ever since been entirely independent in my 
relations with the people of my district." 

Ben Wade, the " old war-horse," was greatly 
touched by Garfield's championship. 

"I shall never forget it, never, sir, while I live 
on this earth ! " he exclaimed as he held the hand 
of the young statesman in his iron grasp. 

Garfield was elected by a majority of twelve 
thousand, and on his return to Congress the second 
term, the secretary of the treasury requested that 
he might have a place on the Committee of Ways 
and Means. 

From his entrance into Congress, Garfield had 
made a special study of finance and political 
economy. He was therefore, well equipped for 
this new position, and nothing could move him 
from the firm stand he had taken in favor of 
specie payments . and the honorable fulfilment of 
the nation's contract. 

" I affirm," he boldly declared before the House, 
" against all opposers, that the highest and foremost 
present duty of the American people is to com- 
plete the resumption of specie payments; and first 
of all, because the sacred faith of this republic 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 135 

is pledged to resumption ; and if it were never so 
hard to do it, if the burdens were ten times greater 
than they are, this nation dare not look in the face 
of God and men, and break its plighted word. 

" It is a fearful thing for one man to stand up in 
the face of his brother-man and refuse to keep his 
pledge ; but it is a forty-five million times worse 
thins: for a nation to do it. It breaks the main- 
spring of faith. It unsettles all security ; it dis- 
turbs all values ; and it puts the life of the nation 
in peril for all time to come. 

" I am almost ashamed to give any other reason 
for resumption than this one I have given. It is 
so complete that no other is needed ; but there is 
another almost as strong. If there were no moral 
obligations resting upon the nation, if there were 
no public faith pledged to it, I affirm that the re- 
sumption of specie payment is demanded by every 
interest of business in this country, and so impera- 
tively demanded that it can be demonstrated that 
every honest interest in America will be strength- 
ened and bettered by the resumption of specie 
payment." 

Garfield's fidelity to conviction was strikingly 
shown in a case at this time when in some of the 
states there were conflicts between civil and mili- 
tary authorities. He was too well versed in law 
to follow blindly the opinion of the majority. 

"Young man," said Judge Jeremiah Black to 



136 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

him, " it is a perilous thing for a young Republi- 
can in Congress to take such an independent stand, 
and I don't want you to injure yourself." 

"That consideration," replied Garfield, "does 
not weigh with me ; I believe in English liberty 
and English law." 

Speaker Colfax wanted to reappoint him on the 
military committee, but he asked to be excused, 
saying, — 

" I would rather serve where I can study finance ; 
this is to be the great question in the future of our 
country." 

In his first speech on the tariff question, he 
defines his position as follows : — 

"I hold that a properly adjusted competition 
between home and foreign products is the best 
gauge to regulate international trade. Duties 
should be so high that our manufacturers can fairly 
compete with the foreign product, but not so high 
as to enable them to drive out the foreign article, 
enjoy a monopoly of the trade, and regulate the 
price as they please. This is my doctrine of 
protection." 

In the well-remembered controversy that suc- 
ceeded General Schenck's tariff bill, Garfield 
said, — 

" The great want of industry is a stable policy ; 
and it is a significant comment on the character of 
our legislation that Congress has become a terror 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 137 

to the business men of the country A dis- 
tinguished citizen of my own district has lately 
written me this significant sentence : f If the laws 
of God and nature were as vacillating and uncer- 
tain as the laws of Congress in regard to the busi- 
ness of its people, the universe would soon fall 
into chaos.' 

" Examining thus the possibilities of the situ- 
ation, I believe that the true course for the friends 
of protection to pursue, is to reduce the rates on 
imports when we can justly and safely do so ; and 
accepting neither of the extreme doctrines, en- 
deavor to establish a stable policy that will com- 
mend itself to all patriotic and thoughtful people." 

Finding that no one in Congress had made a 
business of examining in detail the various appro- 
priations of the public money, Garfield took the 
arduous task upon his own shoulders so that he 
might vote more intelligently. Having made out 
a careful analysis, he delivered it before the 
House ; it was so well received, that each 
succeeding year another was called for, until 
" Garfield's budget speech " became a well-known 
institution in Congress, and was considered a most 
important help in reducing the expenditures of the 
Government. 

A few years later, Garfield was promoted to 
the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropria- 
tions. 



138 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. — The New York Mob. — Gar- 
field's Memorable Words. — Eulogy upon Lincoln. — Memorial 
Oration. — Eulogy upon Senator Morton. — Extracts from other 
Orations. 

It is the morning after the fateful fourteenth of 
April, 1865. From the Atlantic shore to the 
Pacific the whole startled nation is in the wildest 
state of excitement. President Lincoln, with the 
glorious words of Emancipation still warm upon 
his lips, has been shot down by the hand of Booth. 
The newsboys shout through the streets that 
Seward is dying — that the lives of other Govern- 
ment officers have been assailed ! 

A furious mob rules the thoroughfares of New 
York and clamors for revenge. One man who is 
suspected of rebel sentiments is shot dead on the 
spot ; another instant and his adversary lies beside 
him in the gutter. 

"To the World! To the office of the World!" 
shout the rabble, bearing high above their heads 
a roughly constructed gallows. 

Suddenly, a tall, manly figure steps forward 
with a small flag: in his hand. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 139 

" Another telegram from Washington ! " ex- 
claims a chorus of excited voices. 

A dead silence follows, and then, with a rev- 
erential glance heavenward, the stranger begins 
in clear, deep tones, — 

" Fellow- citizens ! clouds and darkness are 
round about Him. His pavilion is dark waters 
and thick clouds of the skies. Justice and judg- 
ment are the establishment of His throne. Mercy 
and truth shall go before His face. Fellow citi- 
zens, God reigns, and the Government at Wash- 
ing-ton still lives ! " 

An eye-witness writes of the memorable scene : 

" The crowd stood riveted to the ground with 
awe, gazing at the motionless orator, and thinking 
of God and the security of the Government in 
that hour. As the boiling wave subsides and 
settles to the sea, when some strong wind beats 
it down, so the tumult of the people sank and 
became still. All took it as a divine omen. It 
was a triumph of eloquence, inspired by the 
moment, such as falls to but one man's lot, and 
that but once in a century. The genius of Web- 
ster, Choate, Everett, Seward, never reached it. 
What might have happened had the surging and 
maddened crowd been let loose, none can tell. 
The man for the crisis was on the spot, more 
potent than Napoleon's guns at Paris. I in- 
quired what was his name. The answer came 



140 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

in a low whisper, f It is General Garfield of 
Ohio!'" 

" God reigns ; and the Government at Washing- 
ton still lives!" With what majestic eloquence 
those immortal words come back to us to-day ! 
With what quickened sympathies we re-read his 
grand eulogy delivered a year later in Con- 
gress, upon Abraham Lincoln, the martyred pres- 
ident ! 

Have not the American people repeated one of 
those "times in the history of men and nations 
when they stand so near the veil that separates 
mortals from immortals, time from eternity, and 
men from their God, that they can almost hear the 
beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart of 
the Infinite?" 

Through its parting folds the thin veil has ad- 
mitted another " martyr president to the company 
of the dead heroes of the Republic." Shall not 
the whispers of God be heard by the children of 
men? Awe-stricken by His voice, shall not the 
American people again "kneel in tearful reverence 
and make a solemn covenant with Him and with 
each other that this nation shall be saved from 
its enemies, and the temples of freedom and 
justice built upon foundations that shall survive 
forever ? " 

Upon the birthday of Lincoln, February 12th, 
1878, when Carpenter's painting of "The Eman- 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 141 

cipation" was presented to Congress by Mrs. 
Thompson, Garfield delivered another memorial 
oration, from which we quote the following beauti- 
ful passages : — 

" The representatives of the nation have opened 
the doors of this Chamber to receive at her hands 
a sacred trust. In coming hither, these living 
representatives have passed under the dome and 
through that beautiful and venerable hall, which, 
on another occasion, I have ventured to call the 
third House of American Representatives, that 
silent assembly whose members have received 
their high credentials at the impartial hand of his- 
tory. Year by year, we see the circle of its 
immortal membership enlarging ; year by year, we 
see the elect of their country, in eloquent silence, 
taking their places in this American pantheon, 
bringing within its sacred precincts the wealth of 
those immortal memories which made their lives 
illustrious ; and year by year, that august assembly- 
is teaching deeper and grander lessons to those 
who serve in these more ephemeral Houses of 
Congress. 

"Abraham Lincoln" (and may we not say the 
same of James Abram Garfield?) "was one of the 
few great rulers whose wisdom increased with his 
power, and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer 
as his triumphs were multiplied. 

"His character is aptly described in the words 



142 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

of England's great laureate — written thirty years 
ago — in which he traces the upward steps of some 

' Divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began, 
And on a simple village green; 

' Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 
And grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
And breasts the blow of circumstance, 
And grapples with his evil star; 

' Who makes by force his merit known, 
And lives to clutch the golden keys, 
To mould a mighty State's decrees, 
And shape the whisper of the throne ; 

'And moving up from high to higher, 
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope, 
The pillar of a people's hope, 
The centre of a world's desire.' 

" Such a life and character will be treasured for- 
ever as the sacred possession of the American 
people and of mankind." 

Again, in Garfield's eulogy upon Senator Mor- 
ton of Indiana, how truly the words apply to 
himself: — 

"His force of will was most masterful. It was 
not mere stubbornness, or pride of opinion, which 
weak and narrow men mistake for firmness. But 
it was that stout-hearted persistency which, having 
once intelligently chosen an object, pursues it 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 143 

through sunshine and storm, undaunted by diffi- 
culties, and unterritied by danger. 

" He possessed an intellect of remarkable clear- 
ness and force. "With keen analysis he found the 
core of a question, and worked from the centre 

outward Few men have been so greatly 

endowed with the power of clear statement and 
unassailable argument. The path of his thought 
was straight, — 

' Like that of the swift cannon-ball 
Shattering that it may reach, and 
Shattering what it reaches." 

"When he had hit the mark, he used no addi- 
tional words, and sought for no decoration. These 
qualities, joined to his power of thinking quickly, 
placed him in the front rank of debaters, and every 
year increased his power." 

One of Garfield's most popular eulogies was 
that upon John Winthrop and Samuel Adams, from 
which we quote the following striking passages : — 

"It must not be forgotten that while Samuel 
Adams was writing the«s:reat argument of liberty 
in Boston, almost at the same time Patrick Henry 
was formulating the same doctrines in Virginia. 
It is one of the grandest facts of that grand time 
that the colonies were thus brought, by an almost 
universal consent, to tread the same pathway, and 
reach the same great conclusions. 



144 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" But most remarkable of all is the fact that, 
throughout all that period, filled as it was with the 
revolutionary spirit, the men who guided the 
storm exhibited the most wonderful power of 
self-restraint. If I were to-day to state the single 
quality that appears to me most admirable among 
the fathers of the revolution, I should say it was 
this : that amidst all the passions of war, they ex- 
hibited so wonderful a restraint, so great a care to 
observe the forms of law, to protect the rights of 
the minority, to preserve all those great rights 
that had come down to them from the common 
law, so that when they had achieved their indepen- 
dence, they were still a law-abiding people." 

When a resolution of thanks was about to be 
passed in Congress to General Thomas for his 
generalship in the battle of Chickamauga, Garfield 
moved an amendment, by inserting the name of 
General Rosecrans. 

After an eloquent appeal in behalf of his old 
commander, he closed with the following words : — 

ff Who took command of the Army of the Cum- 
berland, — found the army at Bowling Green, in 
November, 1862, as it lay disorganized, disheart- 
ened, driven back from Alabama and Tennessee, — 
and led it across the Cumberland, planted it in 
Nashville, and thence, on the first day of the new 
year, planted his banners at Murfreesboro, in 
torrents of blood, and in the moment of our ex- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 145 

tremest peril, throwing himself into the breach, 
saved by his personal labor the Army of the Cum- 
berland and the hopes of the Republic? It was 
General Rosecrans. From the day he assumed 
the command at Bowling Green,, the history of 
that army may be written in one sentence — it 
advanced and maintained its advanced position — 
and its last campaign under the general it loved 
was the bloodiest and most brilliant. 

" The fruits of Chickamauga were gathered in 
November, on the heights of Mission Ridge and 
among the clouds of Lookout Mountain. That 
battle at Chattanooga was a glorious one, and 
every loyal heart was proud of it. But, sir, it was 
won when we had nearly three times the number 
of the enemy. It ought to have been won. 
Thank God it was won ! I would take no laurel 
from the brow of the man who won it, but I would 
remind gentlemen here, that while the battle of 
Chattanooga was fought with vastly superior num- 
bers on our part, the battle of Chickamauga was 
fought with still vaster superiority against us. 

" If there is any man upon earth whom I honor, 
it is the man who is named in this resolution — 
General George H. Thomas. I had occasion, in 
my remarks on the conscription bill a few days ago, 
to refer to him in such terms as I delighted to use ; 
and I say to gentlemen here that if there is any 
man whose heart would be hurt by this resolution 



146 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

as it now stands, that man is General George H. 
Thomas. 1 know, and all know, that he deserves 
well of his country, and his name ought to be 
recorded in letters of gold ; but I know equally 
well that General Eosecrans deserves well of his 
country. 

"I ask you then, not to pain the heart of a 
noble man, who will be burdened with the weight 
of these thanks that wrong his brother officer and 
superior in command. All I ask is that you will 
put both names into the resolution, and let them 
stand side by side." 

It is needless to add that the amendment was 
accepted, and that the name of General Rosecrans 
was inserted with that of General Thomas. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 147 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Home in Washington. — " Fruit between Leaves." — Classical 
Studies. — Mrs. Garfield. —Variety of Reading. —Favorite Verses. 

Ix a private letter to Colonel Rockwell, elated 
August 30th, 1869, Garfield writes : — 

" It seems as though each year added more to 
the work that falls to my share. This season I 
have the main weight of the Census Bill and the 
reports to carry, and the share of the Ohio cam- 
paign that falls to me ; and in addition to all this I 
am running in debt and building a house in 
"Washington. 

"On looking over my accounts, I found I had 
paid out over five thousand dollars since I first 
went to Congress, for rent alone, and all this is a 
dead loss ; so, finding an old staff-officer (Major 
D. G. Swaim), I negotiated enough to enable me 
to get a lot on the corner of Thirteenth and I 
Streets, north, opposite to Franklin Square, and I 
have got a house three-quarters done. It may be 
a losing business, but I hope I shall be able to sell 
it when I am done with it, so as to save myself 
the rent." 



148 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

This house, where Garfield and his family spent 
so many happy hours during their winter sojourns 
in Washington, is a plain brick mansion with a 
wins: built out on the east side to accommodate his 
fine library. The parlor windows look out upon 
Franklin Square and the corner of I and Thirteenth 
Streets. 

To a visitor ushered into this pleasant, cheery 
drawing-room, the first object that greeted the eye 
was an excellent portrait of "Grandma Garfield,'' 
which hung over the grand piano. On the opposite 
side was a beautiful painting of rt Little Trot,"' the 
baby-girl whose loss the loving father never ceased 
to deplore. The room was tastefully but simply 
furnished, and in the small sitting-room, leading 
out of the parlor, the pretty desk piled up with 
books and papers, seemed the most important piece 
of furniture. 

The dining-room with its Japanese dado, and its 
chairs and table of Austrian bent wood was a par- 
ticularly pleasant room. Just above the mantel 
hun£ a half-finished sketch of an old-time knight 
balancing in one hand an empty glass, and leaning 
the other upon an inn table. 

An artist friend began the painting with the 
intention of carrying out an ideal that Garfield 
had once expressed at a Shakespearian gathering. 
Dying before the picture was finished, the painter 
left only an outline of the idea, but that outline, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, 149 

Garfield valued very highly. His love for pictures 
was almost as great as his love for books, and the 
walls of this plain little house in Thirteenth Street 
were adorned with many choice paintings and 
engravings. 

Just over the dining-room was the library where 
Garfield spent the greater part of his time, when 
free from congressional duties. In the centre 
stood a large black walnut office-desk with its ac- 
companiments of pigeon-holes, boxes and drawers, 
filled to overflowing. Six or seven book-cases, 
holding in all some three thousand volumes, stood 
against the walls ; and scrap-books of all shapes 
and sizes confronted you everywhere. 

It used to be a common saying in Congress that 
no man in Washington could stand before the army 
of facts that Garfield could brins* forward at a 
moment's notice. This readiness was largely due 
to his systematic course of reading, and his invalu- 
able method of indexing. For instance : if an 
author's views on some subject struck him as 
particularly good and worth remembering, he 
would immediately make a note of it in his com- 
monplace-book, giving with the topic, the volume, 
and page where the extract could be found. In 
this manner a rich fund of information was always 
at hand ; his " fruit between leaves " was always 
ready to gather. 

The record of the Congressional Library shows 



150 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

that he took out more books than any other 
member of Congress ; and his reading embraced 
every variety of subject, history, biography, law, 
politics, philosophy, government, and poetry. 

At one time, during an unusually busy session, 
a friend found him behind a big barricade of 
books. 

" I find I'm overworked," he said, " and need 
recreation. Now my theory is that the best way 
to rest the mind is not to let it lie idle, hut to put 
it at something quite outside the ordinary line of 
employment. So, I am resting by learning all the 
Congressional Library can show about Horace, 
and the various editions and translations of his 
poems." 

Mrs. Garfield showed the same love for the 
classics as her husband. A year or two ago, he 
said, — 

"I taught my wife Latin at Hiram, and she was 
as good a pupil as I had. She is now teaching 
the same Latin to my two big boys." 

Mary Clemmer wrote of her : — 

" Mrs. Garfield has the ' philosophic mind ' that 
Wordsworth sings of, and she has a self-poise, a 
strength of unswerving absolute rectitude. Much 
of the time that other women give to distributing 
visiting cards, Mrs. Garfield has spent in the 
alcoves of the Congressional Library, searching 
out books to carry home to study She 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 151 

has moved on in the tranquil tenor of her unobtru- 
sive way, in a life of absolute devotion to duty ; 
never forgetting the demands of her position or 
neglecting her friends, yet making it her first charge 
to bless her home, to teach her children, to fit her 
boys for college, to be the equal friend, as well as 
the honored wife, of her husband." 

From a letter of Garfield's to President Hins- 
dale we follow the indefatigable reader in still 
another course of study : — 

"Since I left you I have made a somewhat 
thorough study of Goethe and his epoch, and 
have sought to build up in my mind a picture of 
the state of literature and art in Europe, at the 
period when Goethe began to work, and the state 
when he died. I have grouped the various facts 
into order, have written them out, so as to pre- 
serve a memoir of the impression made upon my 
mind by the whole. The sketch covers nearly 
sixty pages of manuscript. I think some work 
of this kind outside the track of one's every day 
work is necessary to keep up real growth." 

In another letter to the same friend, he writes : — 

t! I have found a book which interests me very 
much. You may have seen it ; if not I hope you 
will get it. It is entitled, 'Ten Great Religions' 
by James Freeman Clarke. I have read the 
chapter on Buddhism with great interest. It is 
admirably written, in a liberal and philosophic 



152 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

spirit, and I am sure will interest you. What I 
have read of it leads me to believe that we have 
taken too narrow a view of the subject of religion." 

Again, when a tit of sickness confined him to the 
house, he says : — 

" I am taking advantage of this enforced leisure 
to do a great deal of reading. Since I was taken 
sick I have read the following; : Sherman's two 
volumes ; Leland's ' English Gypsies ' ; George 
Sorrow's ' Gypsies of Spain ' ; Borrow's ' Eom- 
many Rye ' ; Tennyson's f Mary ' ; seven volumes 
of Froude's England ; several plays of Shake- 
speare, and have made some progress in a new 
book, ' The History of the English People,' by 
Prof. Green of Oxford." 

For light literature, Garfield usually turned to 
Thackeray, Scott, Dickens, Jane Austen, Kingsley, 
or Honore de Balzac. He was fond of poetry, and 
his voluminous scrap-books contained many gems, 
from one of which we cull the following verses, 
said to be his especial favorites : — 

" Commend me to the friend that comes 

When I am sad and lone, 
And makes the anguish of my heart 

The suffering of his own; 
Who coldly shuns the glittering throng 

At pleasure's gay levee, 
And comes to gild a sombre hour 

And give his heart to me. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 153 

"Pie hears me count my sorrows o'er; 

And when the task is done 
He freely gives me all I ask, — 

A sigh for every one. 
He cannot wear a smiling face 

When mine is touched with gloom, 
But like the violet seeks to cheer 

The midnight with perfume. 

" Commend me to that generous heart 

Which like the pine on high, 
Uplifts the same unvarying brow 

To every change of sky ; 
Whose friendship does not fade away 

When wintry tempests blow, 
But like the winter's icy crown 

Looks greener through the snow. 

" He flies not with the flitting stork. 

That seeks a southern sky, 
But lingers where the wounded bird 

Hath lain him down to die. 
Oh, such a friend! He is in truth, 

Whate'er his lot may be, 
A rainbow on the storm of life, 

An anchor on its sea." 



154 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XX. 

Tide of Unpopularity. — Misjudged. —Vindicated. — Re-elected. — 
The De Golyer Contract. — The Salary Increase Question.— 
Incident related by President Hinsdale. 

It was impossible for a man of strong indepen- 
dent views like Garfield, to mount the ladder of 
fame so rapidly without meeting some opposition. 

A lawyer by profession, he was at one time 
called to appear in the Supreme Court in behalf 
of some Confederates who had been tried by a 
court-martial and condemned to death. Of this 
case an able writer says, the rebels had been "tried 
by martial law in a State, in time of peace de facto 
in the State, and in a section of State not under 
martial law. The legal question was, whether any 
military body had such power under the circum- 
stances. Should the civil power be ignored in 
time of peace, or in sections of the country where 
martial law had not been proclaimed ? It was a 
case for which Garfield received no pay, and was 
undertaken as a test of this important principle." 

By his clear, forcible presentation of the case 
and the law, in which he was fully sustained by the 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 155 

Court and the presiding justice — the criminals 
were finally set at liberty. 

When the Ohio district that sent Garfield to 
Congress, heard that he had been pleading in 
Court for condemned rebels, a large proportion 
voted against him. As soon, however, as the 
facts of the case were fully known, the tide of 
popular feeling again turned towards their favorite 
leader, and Garfield was re-elected. 

The De Golyer contract was the next to excite 
unfavorable comment. But again , when a thorough 
investigation had been made, Garfield was found 
to be entirely innocent of the charges brought 
against him. 

Mr. Wilson, the chairman of the Congressional 
Committee of Investigation, gives a clear statement 
of the case as follows : — 

" The Board of Public Works at Washington 
was considering the question as to the kind of 
pavements that should be laid. There was a con- 
test as to the respective merits of various wooden 
pavements. Mr. Parsons represented, as attorney, 
the De Golyer & McClellan patent, and being 
called away from Washington about the time the 
hearing was to be had before the Board of Public 
Works on this subject, procured General Garfield 
to appear before the Board in his stead and argue 
the merits on this patent. This he did, and this 
was the whole of his connection in the matter. 



156 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

It was not a question as to the kind of contract 
that should be made, but as to whether this par- 
ticular kind of pavement should be laid. The 
criticism of the committee was not upon the pave- 
ment in favor of which General Garfield argued, 
but was upon the contract made with reference to 
it ; and there was no evidence which would warrant 
the conclusion that he had anything to do with the 
latter." 

There were forty kinds of pavement presented, 
and for drawing up a brief in favor of the De 
Golyer patent, Garfield received a fee of five 
thousand dollars. 

This was an honorable business transaction. 
"There was not in my opinion," adds Mr. Wilson, 
" any evidence that would have warranted any un- 
favorable criticism upon his conduct." 

Garfield defended himself in a manly, straight- 
forward manner. "If anybody in the world," he 
said in conclusion, "holds that my fee in connec- 
tion with this pavement, even by suggestion or 
implication, had any relation whatever to any 
appropriation by Congress for anything connected 
with this District, or with anything else, it is due 
to me, it is due to this committee, and it is due to 
Congress, that that person be summoned. If there 
be a man on this earth who makes such a charge, 
that man is the most infamous perjurer that lives, 
and I shall be glad to confront him anywhere in 
this world." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 157 

The political opponents of Garfield delighted to 
call him a " salary grabber," but with how much 
justice the following facts will show. 

On the 7th of February, 1873, a bill was pre- 
sented in Congress, together with a. report submit- 
ted by B. F. Butler, from the Judiciary Committee 
of the House of Representatives, for the passing 
of the so-called retroactive law. Its object was to 
increase the pay of members of Congress for past 
services, a measure that Garfield strenuously op- 
posed from the first. A few days later Butler 
tried to incorporate it with the miscellaneous 
appropriation bill. Of the whole matter, Garfield 
spoke as follows : — 

" I wish to state in a few words the condition 
of the salaries-increase question in the conference 
committee of the Senate and the House. The 
Senate conferees were unanimous in favor of fixing 
the salary at $7,500 and cutting off all allowance 
except actual individual travelling expenses of a 
member from his home to Washington and back 
again, once a session. That proposition was 
agreed to by a majority of the conferees on the 
part of the House. I was opposed to the increase 
in the conference as I have been opposed to it 
in the discussion and in my votes here ; but my 
associate conferees were in favor of the Senate 
amendment, and I was compelled to choose between 
signing the report and running the risk of bring- 



158 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

ins: on an extra session of Congress. I have 
signed the report, and I present it as it is, and ask 
the House to act on it in accordance with its best 
judgment." 

Garfield felt that Congress had no right to 
increase its own pay, but those who favored the 
plan had attached it to another bill that he very 
much desired to see passed. 

President Hinsdale who was in Washington at 
the time, says, — 

"There is an incident connected with that 
bill which I will relate, not because I was con- 
cerned in it, but because it shows something 
of the working of Garfield's mind. I got to Wash- 
ington on Saturday, and on Sunday there was a 
long session of the committee on appropriations de- 
voted to the discussion of the increase of salaries. 
This feature was a rider on one of the most impor- 
tant appropriation bills. Garfield opposed the 
rider, but was overruled by the committee. On 
Monday, I happened to pass the room of the 
committee on appropriations and I found General 
Garfield walking up and down the corridor. He 
said to me, — 

« < IVe or>t to decide in fifteen minutes whether 
I will sign that bill or not. If I do, I go on the 
record as indorsing a measure that I have been 
opposing. If I do not, I lose all control of the 
bill. It will be reported to the House by General 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 159 

Butler, and he will control the debate on it. The 
session of Congress ends to-morrow, and if the 
bill fails to pass, this Congress will expire without 
making provisions for carrying on the government. 
Now, what would you do ? ' 

"I told him that I would sign the bill, and in 
the House I would briefly explain why I had at 
last signed a bill which I had opposed. I don't 
assume that his conduct was guided by my advice, 
but he pursued the course I had indicated.'' 

The bill passed ; but immediately upon the 
receipt of the back pay that had been voted him, 
Garfield returned the money to the Treasury. 



160 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Credit Mobilier. — Garfield entirely Cleared of all Charges Against 
him. — Tribute to him in Cincinnati Gazette. — Elected U. S. 
Senator. — Extract from Speech. — Sonnet. 

A still more fruitful source of scandal was the 
association of Garfield's name with the Credit 
Mobilier stock. The company bearing this high- 
sounding French title was chartered, as early as 
1859, under the law of Pennsylvania, for the al- 
leged purpose of buying land, loaning money, 
building houses, etc. 

When the war broke out, it ceased operations, 
until in 1866 the construction of the Pacific rail- 
road brought it asrain into notice. 

By using the charter of this Credit Mobilier, 
Mr. Oakes Ames and his associates saw an oppor- 
tunity of making large sums of money. They 
bought up a majority of the stock of tlte Pacific 
Railroad, and secured the entire control of the 
Credit Mobilier. A contract was made with this 
company to build the road at an exorbitant profit, 
the proceeds of which were to be divided among 
themselves. The rights and interests of the smaller 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 161 

stockholders were quite ignored, as well as those of 
the United States, which, besides giving millions 
of acres, had also indorsed $60,000,000 of its 
bonds, to assist in the building of the railroad. 

Of course, all this fraudulent dealing was kept a 
profound secret, and the true character of the 
Credit Mobilier was not known to the public for 
a long time. 

To prevent Congress from investigating this 
outrageous swindle, the ring tried to dispose of 
some of their Credit Mobilier stock to different 
members of Congress. 

George Francis Train called upon Garfield and 
asked him to invest. 

" You can double and treble your money in a 
year," he urged ; "the object of the company is to 
buy land where cities and villages are to spring up." 

Garfield told Mr. Train that he had no money to 
invest, and even if he had, he' should want to 
make further inquiries before entering into such a 
transaction. 

A year later Mr. Ames, who was a member 
of Congress, came to Garfield and repeated the 
request. 

" If you have no money to spare," said Mr. 
Ames, " I will hold the stock until you can find it 
convenient to pay for it." 

After taking a few days to consider the matter,. 
Garfield told Mr. Ames he had decided not ta 
invest. 



162 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The following July, 18Q7, Garfield sailed for 
Europe, and in order to obtain funds for this trip, 
he turned over advanced drafts for several months 
of his congressional salary. "When he returned 
home in November, he needed a small sum, for 
current expenses, and borrowed three hundred 
dollars of Oakes Ames. This loan he paid back 
in 1869. 

Not long after this transaction, Garfield was 
informed that his name was upon Oakes Ames' 
book as holding ten shares of the Credit Mobilier. 

He demanded an explanation, and Mr. Ames 
appeared before a committee of investigation, 
upon December 17, 1872. His testimony was as 
follows, — 

"In reference to Mr. Garfield," said the chair- 
man, "you say that you agreed to get ten shares 
for him and to hold them till he could pay for 
them, and that he never did pay for them nor 
receive them ? " 

t; Yes, sir." 

" He never paid any money on that stock, nor 
received any money from it?" 

" Not on account of it." 

"He received no dividends?" 

" No, sir ; I think not. He says he did not. My 
own recollection is not very clear." 

"So, that, as you understand, Mr. Garfield i 
never parted with any money, nor received any 
money on that transaction ? " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 163 

"No, sir; he had some money from me once, 
some three or four hundred dollars, and called it a 
loan. He says that is all he ever received from 
me, and that he considered it a loan. He never 
took his stock and never paid for it." 

" Did you understand it so ? " 

"Yes; I am willing to so understand it. I do 
not recollect paying him any dividend, and have 
forgotten that I paid him any money." 

Five weeks after this statement, Mr. Ames 
appeared a second time before the committee with 
a memorandum in which there was an entry to the 
effect that a certain amount of stock had been 
sold for $329 and paid over to General Garfield ; 
that it was not paid in money, but by a check on 
the sergeant-at-arms. 

To this statement, the sergeant-at-arms, Mr. 
Dillon, testified that he had paid a check of $329, 
but that the payment had been made to Air. Ames, 
not to General Garfield. 

It was conclusively proved that Garfield's name 
was not amono- the eleven congressmen who had 
bought shares in the Credit Mobilier. 

In a long and able vindication of the purity of 
his motives, Garfield concludes with the following 
words : — 

" If there be a citizen of the United States who 
is willing to believe that, for $329, I have bartered 
away my good name, and to falsehood have added 






164 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

perjury, these lines are not addressed to him. If 
there be one who thinks that any part of my pub- 
lic life has been oma«;ed G n so low a level as these 
charges would place it, I do not address him ; I 
address those who are willing to believe that it is 
possible for a man to serve the public without 
personal dishonor. 

" If any of the scheming corporations or corrupt 
rings that have done so much to disgrace the 
country by their attempts to control its legislation, 
have ever found in me a conscious supporter or 
ally in any dishonorable scheme, they are at full 
liberty to disclose it. In the discussion of the 
many grave and difficult questions of public policy 
which have occupied the thoughts of the nation 
during the last twelve years, I have borne some 
part ; and I confidently appeal to the public records 
for a vindication of my conduct." 

A writer in the Cincinnati Enquirer at this time 
thus described Garfield : — 

"With as honest a heart as ever beat, above the 
competitions of sordid ambition, General Garfield 
has yet so little of the worldly wise in him that he 
is poor, and }et has been accused of dishonesty. 
He has no capacity for investment, nor the rapid 
solution of wealth, nor profound respect for the 
penny in and out of pound, and still, is neither 
careless, improvident, nor dependent. The great 
consuming passion to equal richer people, and live 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 165 

finely, and extend his social power, are as foreign to 
him as scheming or cheating. But he is not a 
suspicious nor a high-mettled man, and so he is 
taken in sometimes, partly from his obliging, un- 
refusing disposition. Men who were scheming 
imposed upon him as upon Grant and other crude- 
eyed men of affairs. The people of his district, 
however, who are quick to punish public venality 
or defection, heard him in his defence, and kept 
him in Congress and held up his hand." 

Side by side with this testimony, listen to Gar- 
field's own words in the Ohio Senate just after his 
election : — 

" During the twenty years I have been in the 
public service (almost eighteen of it in the Con- 
gress of the United States) , I have tried to do one 
thing. I have represented for many years a dis- 
trict in Congress whose approbation I greatly de- 
sired, but, though it may seem perhaps a little 
egotistical to say it, I yet desired still more the 
approbation of one person, and his name is Gar- 
field. He is the only man that I am compelled to 
sleep with, and eat with, and die with, and, if I 
could not have his approbation, I should have bad 
companionship . " 

The following sonnet, from an anonymous pen, 
appeared about this time in the Washington Even- 
ing Star: — 



166 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



TO JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

" Thou who didst ride on Chickamauga's day, 
All solitary, down the fiery line, 
And saw the ranks of battle rusty shine, 
Where grand old Thomas held them from dismay, 
Regret not now, while meaner factions play 
Their brief campaigns against the best of men; 
For those spent balls of slander have their way, 
And thou shalt see the victory again. 
Weary and ragged, though the broken lines 
Of party reel, and thine own honor bleeds, 
That mole is blind that Garfield undermines! 
That shot falls short that hired slander speeds ! 
That man will live whose place the state assigns, 
And whose high mind the mighty nation needs ! " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 167 



CHAPTER XXII. 

After the Ordeal. — Unanimous Vote of the General Assemhly of 
Ohio. — Extract from Garfield's Speech of Acceptance. — Purchase 
of the Farm at Mentor. — Description of the New House. — Life at 
Mentor. — The Garfield Household. — Longing for Home in his 
Last Hours. 

As gold is tried in the fire, so General Garfield 
passed through the distressing ordeal of slander 
and fierce opposition. In January, 1880, he was 
elected by a unanimous vote United States Sena- 
tor from Ohio. In his speech of acceptance, he 
says, — 

"I do not undervalue the office that you have 
tendered to me yesterday and to-day ; but I say, I 
think, without any mental reservation, that the 
manner in which it was tendered to me is far more 
desirable than the thing itself. That it has been a 
voluntary gift of the General Assembly of Ohio, 
without solicitation, tendered to me because of 
their confidence, is as touching and high a tribute 
as one man can receive from his fellow-citizens." 

Three years previous to his election as Senator, 
Garfield was spending his summer vacation near 
Cleveland, Ohio. Driving one day along the 
stage-road that skirts the shores of Lake Erie, 
he came to the pretty town of Mentor. 



168 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

His old fascination for the sparkling, blue waters 
returned — he was a boy again, chopping wood in 
his uncle's forest and counting the sails with every 
stroke ! Why not make his summer home just 
here ? 

Upon inquiry, he found in Mentor, waiting a 
purchaser, a tine farm of a hundred and twenty 
acres. 

The little cottage upon the ground would ac- 
commodate his family for awhile, and when they 
went back to Washington, a larger and more 
convenient house could be built in its place. So 
the farm was purchased, and " Lawnfield," the 
pleasant Mentor home, established. 

The new house, built upon the foundation of the 
old one, suggests comfort rather than elegance. 
It is two and a half stories high, with two dormer 
windows and a broad veranda in front. 

The wide, airy hall contains a large writing 
table, in addition to the other furniture, and 
piles of books and papers greet you in every 
corner. 

The first floor has a parlor, sitting-room, dining- 
room, kitchen, wash-room and pantry, planned 
with every convenience by Mrs; Garfield, to 
whom the architect's papers were submitted. 

Two of the pleasahtest rooms on the second 
floor are fitted up especially for " Grandma Gar- 
field ; " one of these has a large, old-fashioned 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 169 

fire-place, and is conceded to be the brightest, 
cheeriest room in the whole house. 

In the ell is a small room, thirteen and a half by 
fourteen feet, called by the children " papa's snug- 
gery." It is not the library, but the walls are 
covered with book-shelves, and the little room 
seems to have been used by the busy statesman 
as a sort of " sanctum sanctorum." 

The library is a separate building, a few steps 
to the northeast of the house. Garfield used to 
call it his "workshop," and the books of refer- 
ence, indices, public documents, etc., piled up on 
the shelves, show the numerous tools he employed 
in his " literary carpentry." 

This home at Mentor was purchased especially 
for the benefit of the Garfield children, but both 
father and mother enjoyed the quiet country life 
far better than the whirl of societv at Washington. 

" Isn't it strange," exclaimed Garfield, to one of 
his guests, " how a man will revive his early at- 
tachment to farm-life? For twenty-five years I 
scarcely remained on a form for a longer period 
than a few days, but now I am an enthusiast. I 
can see now what I could not see when I was 
a boy. It is delightful to watch the growing 
crops." 

As Washington turned with delight to the quiet 
shades of Mount Vernon, so Garfield looked for- 
ward each year to his summer at Mentor. 



170 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



/ 



Oftentimes, his visitors would find him out in 
the fields, tossing hay with his boys, superintend- 
ing the farm-work, or planning some new im- 
provement. 

In a letter to a friend, he says, — 

" You can hardly imagine how completely I have 
turned my mind out of its usual channels during 
the last weeks. You know I have never been 
able to do anything moderately, and, to-day, I feel 
myself lame in every muscle with too much lifting 
and digging. I shall try to do a little less the 
coming week." 

It was his custom at Mentor to rise very early 
in the morning ; directly after breakfast he would 
mount one of his horses and go all over the farm, 
giving directions for the day's work. There 
were one hundred and twenty acres in the original 
farm, but forty more were purchased soon after. 
The beautiful lawn, together with the garden and 
orchard, takes up about twelve acres. Seventy 
more are under cultivation, and the remainder are 
in pasture lots and woodland. One piece of 
marshy ground has been carefully drained, and 
from, it an excellent crop of wheat is obtained. 
Many other improvements have been made, as 
Garfield was an enthusiast in scientific farming. 
lie liked nothing better than to show visitors over 
the place; and, in making the rounds, he would 
always take them down the lane back of the house, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



171 



and up to the top of the ridge beyond, explaining 
how the level basin below was once a part of Lake 
Erie. 

The little town of" Mentor is largely settled by 
New Englanders, and the hilly surface, the groves 
of maple, oak, and hickory, interspersed with 
thrifty farms, remind one constantly of the East- 
ern States. Cleveland is only twenty-five miles to 
the east, and the waters of Lake Erie form its 
northern boundary. To reach Mentor by rail, one 
must take the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern 
Railroad. 

A gentleman, who dined one day at Lawnfield, 
says,— 

"I sat next to Mrs. Garfield, and I found her a 

ready and charming conversationalist She 

is tall, fine-looking, has a kind, good face, and the 
gentlest of manners. A pair of black eyes and a 
mouth about which there plays a sweetly-bewitch- 
ing smile, are the most attractive features of a 
thoroughly expressive face. She is a quick ob- 
server, and an intelligent listener." 

The two older boys, Harry and James, are fine, 
manly fellows, eighteen and sixteen years of age. 
They are good scholars, and passed an excellent ex- 
amination upon their entrance to Williams College 
in the fall of '81. Mollie, the only daughter, is a 
lovely girl of fourteen. The next child, a boy of 
ten, bears the name of Irvin McDowell. 






172 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" I had," said Garfield, " a personal acquaint- 
ance with General McDowell, and I knew him to 
be an upright man and a good officer, and conse- 
quently protested slightly to the abuse heaped 
upon him by giving my son his name." 

The youngest child is seven years of age, and is 
called Abram, for his grandfather. 

" Grandma Garfield," whose features, as well as 
those of the children and their parents, have be- 
come so familiar to us, is a bright, active old lady 
of eighty years. 

?f I have seen Garfield," writes Mr. Campbell, 
the editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer, " in the 
midst of his plain home life — beneath his West- 
ern Reserve cottage farmhouse. His surroundings 
were those of a man of culture, but of a man of 
limited means. His board was frugally spread — 
scarcely differing in any respect from the table of 
his humble neighbors. He preferred frugality and 
self-denial to debt, and I came away, doing honor 
in my mind to this sterling trait of his character." 

Some of the happiest hours of Garfield's life 
were spent in this modest home at Mentor, and as 
one writer beautifully expresses it, through those 
long, long summer days, " wounded to death, and 
looking out on the yellow, dreary Potomac, so 
dreary, so yellow in the throbbing midsummer 
heat, his soul wandered in his dreams, not amid 
the scenes of his ambitions or his achievements, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 173 

but through the haunts of his boyhood, through 
the streets of Cleveland, with the comrades of his 
prime ; and his last dream on earth was a dream 
of Mentor, the home of his happy and prosperous 
manhood. Its modest walls, its harvest fields, its 
peaceful glades, were the last pictures to fill his 
sight with delight before he lifted his eyes to con- 
front the glory of the Heavenly City." 



174 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXIH. 

Republican Convention at Chicago. — The Three Prominent Candi- 
dates. — Description of Conkling. — Logan. — Cameron. — De- 
scription of Garfield. — Resolution Introduced by Conkling. — 
Opposition of West Virginians. — Garfield's Conciliatory Speech. 
— His Oration in Behalf of Sherman. — Opinions of the Press. 

The National Convention of the Republican 
party that met at Chicago, in June, 1880, will 
always be marked with a red-letter in the annals 
of our country. The third-term issue, the unit 
rule, district representation, and the arbitrary 
power of party managers, made the nomination 
for President one long scene of hard fought 
battles. 

The three prominent candidates were General 
Grant ; James G. Blaine, Senator from Maine ; 
and John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury. 

The third-term party who desired the nomina- 
tion- of Grant, was strongly supported by Senator 
Conkling of NeAV York, Senator Cameron of 
Pennsylvania, and Senator Logan of Illinois. 
These three great political leaders are thus de- 
scribed by a graphic writer, who was present at 
the opening of the Convention : — ' 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 175 

"Just as the great Exposition Building had 
nearly filled up, there was a simultaneous huzza 
throughout the hall and galleries, and it speedily 
broke out in a hearty applause. The tall and now 
silvered plume of Colliding was visible in the 
aisle, and he strode down to his place at the head 
of his delegation with the majesty of an emperor. 
He recognized the compliment by a modest bow, 
without lifting his eyes to the audience, and took 
his seat as serenely as if on a picnic and holiday. 
The Grant men seemed to be more comfortable 
when they found. him by their side and evidently 
ready for the conflict. 

"Logan's swarthy features, flowing mustache, 
and Indian hair, were next visible on the eastern 
aisle, but he stepped to the head of his delegation 
so quietly that he escaped a special welcome. He 
sat as if in sober reflection for a few moments, and 
then hastened over to Colliding to perfect their 
counsel on the eve of battle. The two senatorial 
leaders held close conference until the bustle about 
the chair gave notice that the opposing lines were 
about to begin to feel each other, and test their 
position. 

" Cameron had just stepped upon the platform 
with the elasticity of a boy, and his youthful, but 
strongly-marked face was recognized at once. 
There was no applause. They all knew that he 
never plays for the galleries, and that cheers are 



176 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Wasted upon him. He quietly sat clown for ten 
minutes, although the time for calling the conven- 
tion to order had passed by an hour, and looked 
calmly out upon the body so big with destiny for 
himself and his Grant associates. As he passed 
by he was asked, — 

"'.What of the battle?' 

,ft )Ve have three hundred to start with,' he re- 
plied, ' and we will work on till we win.' 

" This was said with all the determination that 
his positive manner and expression could add to 
language, and it summed up his whole strategy." 

George F. Hoar, from Massachusetts, was ap- 
pointed President of the Convention ; and among 
the delegates from Ohio, and enthusiastic sup- 
porters of Sherman, was General Garfield, thus 
described by a writer in the Chicago Inter- 
Ocean: — 

" A big heart, a sympathetic nature, and a mind 
keenly sensitive to everything that is beautiful in 
sentiment, are the artists that shade down the 
gnarled outlines and touch with soft coloring the 
plain features of his massive face. The conception 
of a grand thought always paints a glow upon Gar- 
field's face, which no one forgets who has seen him 
while speaking. His eyes are a cold gray, but they 
are often — yes, all the time when he is speaking — 
lit brilliantly by the warm light of worthy senti- 
ments, and the strong flame of a great man's con- 
viction. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 177 

" In speaking, he is not so restless as Colliding ; 
his speech is an appeal for thought and calm de- 
liberation, and he stands still like the rock of 
judgment while he delivers it. There is no in- 
vective or bitterness in his effort, but there is 
throughout an earnestness of conviction and an 
unquestionable air of sincerity, to which every 
gesture and intonation of voice is especially 
adapted." 

On the second day of the convention a resolu- 
tion was introduced by Mr. Conkling that every 
member of the convention should support the 
nominee, and that no one should hold a seat who 
was not willing thus to pledge himself. The ques- 
tion was opposed by several voices, and when Air. 
Conkling called for a vote of the States, three 
delegates from West Virginia voted in the nega- 
tive. Another resolution was then offered by Mr. 
Conkling, who declared that these delegates had 
forfeited their seats in the convention. 

The West Virginians asserted that they were 
true Republicans, but could not, and would not, 
pledge themselves in this manner. A hot contest 
of words would probably have ensued, had not 
Garfield taken the floor and spoken as follows : — 

"I fear the convention is about to commit a 
grave error. Every delegate, save three, has 
voted for the resolution, and the three gentlemen 
who have voted against it have risen in their places 



178 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and stated that they expected, and intended, to 
support the nominee of the convention, hut that it 
was not, in their judgment, a wise thing, at this 
time, to pass the resolution which all the rest of 
the delegates had voted for. Were they to be 
disfranchised because they thought so ? That was 
the question. Was every delegate to have his re- 
publicanism inquired into before he was allowed to 
vote ? Delegates were responsible for their votes, 
not to the convention, but to their constituents. 
He himself would never in any convention vote 
against his judgment. He regretted that the gen- 
tlemen from West Virginia had thought it best to 
break the harmony of the convention by their dis- 
sent. He did not know these gentlemen, nor their 
affiliations, nor their relations to the candidates. 
If this convention expelled those men then the 
convention would have to purge itself at the end 
of every vote and inquire how many delegates 
who had voted ' no ' should go out. He trusted 
that the gentleman from New York would with- 
draw his resolution and let the convention proceed 
with its business." 

One of the delegates from California imme- 
diately moved to lay the resolution on the table, 
and Mr. Conkling thereupon withdrew it. 

On the fourth day of the convention, and just 
after the Grant men had set forth in glowing terms 
the claims of their candidate, Garfield was called 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 179 

to the platform to represent Ohio. A hearty 
cheering greeted him as he began : — 

" Mr. President : I have witnessed the ex- 
traordinary scenes of this convention with deep 
solicitude. No emotion touches my heart more 
quickly than a sentiment in honor of a great and 
noble character. But as I sat on these scats and 
witnessed these demonstrations, it seemed to me 
you were a human ocean in a tempest. I have 
seen the sea lashed into fury and tossed into spray, 
and its grandeur moves the soul of the dullest 
man. But I remember that it is not the billows, 
but the calm level of the sea from which all 
heights and depths are measured. When the 
storm has passed and the hour of calm settles on 
the ocean, when sunlight bathes its smooth sur- 
face, then the astronomer and surve} r or takes the 
level from which he measures all terrestrial heights 
and depths. 

" Gentlemen of the convention , your present 
temper may not mark the healthful pulse of our 
people. "When our enthusiasm has passed, when 
the emotions of this hour have subsided, we shall 
find the calm level of public opinion below the 
storm from which the thoughts of a mighty people 
are to be measured, and by which their final action 
will be determined. 

"Not here, in this brilliant circle where fifteen 



180 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

thousand men and women are assembled, is the 
destiny of the Republic to be decreed ; not here, 
where I see the enthusiastic faces of seven hundred 
and fifty-six delegates waiting to cast their votes 
into the urn and determine the choice of their 
party, but by four million Republican firesides, 
where the thoughtful fathers with wives and 
children about them, with the calm thoughts 
inspired by love of home and love of country, 
with the history of the past, the hopes of the 
future, and the knowledge of the great men who 
have adorned and blessed our nation in days gone 
by — there God prepares the verdict that shall 
determine the wisdom of our work to-night. Not 
in Chicago in the heat of June, but in the sober 
quiet that comes between now and November, in 
the silence of deliberate judgment will this great 
question be settled. Let us aid them to-night. 

"But now, gentlemen of the convention, what 
do we want ? Twenty-five years ago this republic 
was wearing a triple chain of bondage. Long 
familiarity with traffic in the bodies and souls of 
men had paralyzed the consciences of a majority 
of our people. The baleful doctrine of State 
sovereiinitv had shocked and weakened the noblest 
and most beneficent powers of the national govern- 
ment, and the grasping power of slavery was 
seizing the virgin territories of the West and drag- 
ging them into the den of eternal bondage. At 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 181 

that crisis the Republican party was born. It 
drew its first inspiration from that fire of liberty 
which God has lighted in every man's heart, and 
which ^11 the powers of ignorance and tyranny can 
never wholly extinguish. 

"The Republican party came to deliver and 
save the republic. It entered the arena when the 
beleaguered and assailed territories were struggling 
for freedom, and drew around them the sacred 
circle of liberty which the demon of slavery has 
never dared to cross. It made them free forever. 

"Strengthened by its victory on the frontier, 
the young party, under the leadership of that 
great man who, on this spot, twenty years ago, 
was made its leader, entered the national capital 
and assumed the high duties of the government. 
The light which shone from its banner dispelled 
the darkness in which slavery had enshrouded the 
capital, and melted the shackles of every slave, and 
consumed in the fire of liberty every slave-pen 
within the shadow of the capitol. 

"Our national industries by an impoverishing 
policy, were themselves prostrated, and the streams 
of revenue flowed in such feeble currents that the 
treasury itself was well-nigh empty. The money 
of the people was the wretched notes of two 
thousand uncontrolled and irresponsible state bank- 
ing corporations, which were filling the country 
with a circulation that poisoned rather than sus- 



182 LIFE AKD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tained the life of business. The Republican party 
changed all this. It abolished the babel of con- 
fusion, and gave the country a currency as national 
as its flag, based upon the sacred faith of the 
people. It threw its protecting arm around our 
great industries, and they stood erect as with new 
life. It filled with the spirit of true nationality 
all the great functions of the government. It con- 
fronted a rebellion of unexampled magnitude, 
with slavery behind it, and, under God, fought the 
final battle of liberty until victory was won. 
Then, after the storms of battle were heard the 
sweet, calm words of peace uttered by the con- 
quering nation, and saying to the conquered foe 
that lay prostrate at its feet, — 

" f This is our only revenge, that you join us in 
lifting to the serene firmament of the Constitution, 
to shine like stars forever and ever, the immortal 
principles of truth and justice, that all men, white 
or black, shall be free and stand equal before the 
law.' 

"Then came the question of reconstruction, the 
public debt, and the public faith. In the settle- 
ment of the questions the Republican party has 
completed its twenty-five years of glorious exist- 
ence, and it has sent us here to prepare it for 
another lustrum of duty and of victory. How 
shall we do this great work? We cannot do it, 
my friends, by assailing our Republican brethren. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 183 

God forbid that I should say one word to cast a 
shadow upon any name on the roll of our heroes. 

"This coming fight is our Thermopylae. \Ve 
are standing upon a narrow isthmus. If our 
Spartan hosts are united, we can withstand all the 
Persians that the Xerxes of Democracy can bring 
against us. Let us hold our ground this one year, 
for the stars in their courses fight for us in the 
future. The census taken this year will bring 
reinforcements and continued power. But in 
order to win this victory now, we want the vote of 
every Eepublican, of every Grant Republican, and 
every anti-Grant Eepublican in America, of every 
Blaine man and anti-Blaine man. The vote of 
every follower of every/ candidate is needed to 
make our success certain ; therefore, I say, gentle- 
men and brethren, we are here to take calm coun- 
sel together, and inquire what we shall do. 

ff We want a man whose life and opinions em- 
body all the achievements of which I have spoken. 
We want a man who, standing on a mountain 
height, sees all the achievements of our past history, 
and carries in his heart the memory of all its 
glorious deeds, and who, looking forward, prepares 
to meet the labor and the dangers to come. We 
want one who will act in no spirit of unkindness 
towards those we lately met in battle. The Repub- 
lican party offers to our brethren of the South the 
olive-branch of peace, and wishes them to return 



184 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

to "brotherhood, on this supreme condition, that it 
shall be admitted forever and forevermore, that in 
the war for the Union, we were right and they 
were wrong. On that supreme condition we meet 
them as brothers, and on no other. We ask them 
to share with us the blessings and honors of this 
great republic. 

"Now, gentlemen, not to weary you, Tarn about 
to present a name for your consideration — the 
name of a man who" was the comrade and associate 
and friend of nearly all those noble dead whose 
faces look down upon us from these walls to-night ; 
a man who began his career of public service 
twenty-five years ago ; Avhose first duty was cour- 
ageously done in the days of peril on the plains of 
Kansas, when the first red drops of that bloody 
shower began to fall which finally swelled into the 
deluge of war. He bravely stood by young 
Kansas then, and, returning to his duty in the 
National Legislature, through all subsequent time 
his pathway has been marked by labors performed 
in every department of legislation. 

"You ask for his monuments. I point you to 
twenty-five years of national statutes. Not one 
great beneficent measure has been placed in our 
statute books without his intelligent and powerful 
aid. He aided these men to formulate the laws that 
raised our great armies and carried us through the 
war. His hand was seen in the workmanship of 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 185 

those statutes that restored and brought back 
the unity and calm of the States. His hand 
was in all that great legislation that created the 
war currency, and in a still greater work that re- 
deemed the promises of the government and made 
the currency equal to gold. And when at last 
called from the halls of legislation into a Irish 
executive office, he displayed that experience, 
intelligence, firmness and poise of character which 
has carried us through a stormy period of three 
years. With one-half the public press crying 
'Crucify him,' and a hostile Congress seeking to 
prevent success, in all this he remained unmoved 
until victory crowned him. 

"The great fiscal affairs of the nation, and the 
great business interests of the country he has 
guarded and preserved, while executing the law of 
resumption and effecting its object without a jar 
and against the false prophecies of one-half of the 
press and all the Democracy of this continent. He 
has shown himself able to meet with calmness the 
great emergencies of the government for twenty- 
five years. He has trodden the perilous heights 
of public duty, and against all the shafts of malice 
has borne his breast unharmed. He has stood in 
the blaze of f that fierce light that beats against the 
throne,' but its fiercest ray has found no flaw in his 
armor, no stain on his shield. I do not present 
him as a better Eepublican or as a better man than 



186 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

thousands of others we honor, but I present him 
for your deliberate consideration. I nominate 
John Sherman, of Ohio." 

Of this powerful speech, that was constantly 
interrupted by storms of applause, Whitelaw 
Reid said, — 

" It was admirably adapted to make votes for 
his candidate, if speeches ever made votes. It 
was courteous, conciliatory, and prudent." 

The editor of the Chicago Journal wrote as 
follows : — 

" The supreme orator of the evening was Gen- 
eral Garfield. He is a man of superb power and 
noble character. . . . He indulged in no fling 
at others. It was a model speech in temper and 
tone. The impression made was powerful and 
altogether, wholesome. Many felt that if Ohio had 
offered Garfield instead of Sherman, she would 
have been more likely to win." ( 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 187 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Battle still Undecided. — Sunday among: the Delegates. — Gar- 
field's Remark.— Monday another Day of Doubt. — The Dark 
Horse. — The Balloting on Tuesday. — Garfield's Remonstrance. 
— He is Unanimously Elected on the Thirty-sixth Ballot. — En- 
thusiastic Demonstrations, Congratulatory Speeches and Tele- 
grams. — His Speech of Acceptance. 

Garfield's eloquent speech was followed by 
one from Mr. Billings, of Vermont, who proposed 
Senator Edmunds as a nominee. Mr. Cassidy, 
of Wisconsin, presented the name of Elihu B. 
Washburne, of Illinois, and was seconded by Mr. 
Brandagee, of Connecticut. 

The battle was waged in this manner until 
a late hour on Saturday evening. Many of the 
delegates wanted to continue the balloting after 
midnight, and some urged the chairman, Judge 
Hoar, to ignore the Sabbath and let the conven- 
tion go on. 

" Never ! " he replied ; " this is a Sabbath-keep- 
ing nation, and I cannot preside over this conven- 
tion one minute after twelve." 

Garfield attended church in the morning, and 
dined with Marshall Field. The conversation at 



188 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

table turned upon the dead-lock in the convention 
and the quietus at Washington, where every one 
was waiting for further developments. 

Addressing; the friend who sat beside him, Gar- 
field said, — 

"Yes, this is a day of suspense, but it is also a 
day of prayer ; and I have more faith in the 
prayers that will go up from Christian hearts to- 
day, than I have in all the political tactics which 
will prevail at this convention." 

When President Hoar called the convention to 
order on Monday morning, an anxious crowd 
hastily took their seats and prepared for the 
coming battle. Eighteen ballots were cast during 
the day and ten more in the evening, with no de- 
cisive result. The weather was extremely hot, 
but the hall was filled to its utmost capacity, and 
at each roll-call the whole twelve thousand would 
simultaneously rise to their feet with a noise like 
the roar of thunder. It was late at night before 
the convention broke up, and some of the dele- 
gates did not retire at all. 

On Tuesday morning, a pencilled note, it is said, 
passed from Conkling to Garfield, which read as 
follows : — 

" My Dear Garfield, — If there is to be a dark horse 
in this convention there is no man I would prefer before 
yourself. Conkling." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 189 

The reply was, — 

"My Dear Conkling, — There will be no dark horse 
in this convention. I am for Sherman. 

J. A. Garfield." 

B} r the time the thirty-fourth ballot was cast, 
however, it began to be very evident that a " break" 
was imminent. Wisconsin gave thirty-six votes 
for Garfield, Connecticut followed with eleven 
more, Illinois gave seven, and Indiana twenty-nine. 

Garfield immediately rose to his feet and said he 
had refused to have his name announced and voted 
for in the convention. 

"I have not given my consent" — he began; 
but amidst much laughter the chairman interrupted, 
and said the gentleman was not stating a question 
of order. 

The enthusiasm for the new candidate now rose 
to its highest pitch. When the thirty-sixth ballot 
was called, Sherman and the Ohio delegation, with 
the Xew York anti-Grant men, led off in a grand 
burst of applause for Garfield. One after another 
the States transferred their votes to him, till at 
last Wisconsin completed the majority. 

Before the roll was called a salute of guns was 
tired in the park outside, the galleries sprang to 
their feet, and the wildest scene of excitement 
followed. 

Each delegation had its State banner, and, with 




190 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Massachusetts at the head, an impromptu pro- 
cession was formed that marched over to the Ohio 
delegation and placed all the standards by the side 
of Garfield. The military band in the hall then 
struck up, "Rally round the Flag," and the whole 
immense audience enthusiastically joined in the 
stirring song. 

" I shall never forget," writes an eye-witness, 
" the expression of Garfield's face at the time that 
delegation after delegation was breaking from its 
moorings and going over to him. I scanned him 
with intense curiosity as he listened to the call of 
States, and the certain coming of his nomination. 
His cheeks had a flush upon them, and there was 
a far-away expression in his eyes as he listened to 
the responses of the chairman, as if he was com- 
muning with the future. I can see his face at this 
moment as plainly as I saw it then, and I ask my- 
self now whether as he swept the horizon of the 
future with his mind's eye, could he possibly have 
had a glimpse of the dark apparition that was even 
then being invoked into life. He looked anxious, 
almost troubled." 

"When the President of the convention an- 
nounced that James A. Garfield of Ohio had 
received three hundred and ninety-nine ballots, 
the majority of the whole votes cast, Senator 
Conkling arose and said, — 

"I move that he be unanimously presented as 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 191 

the nominee of the convention. The Chair, under 
the rules, anticipated me, but being on my feet, 
I avail myself of the opportunity to congratulate 
the Republican party of the nation on the good- 
natured and well-tempered disposition that has 
distinguished this animated convention. 

f 'I trust that the fervor and unanimity of the 
scenes of the convention will be transplanted to 
the field of the country, and all of us who have 
borne a part against each other here will be found 
with equal zeal, bearing the banners and carrying 
the lances of the Republican party into the ranks 
of the enemy." 

Senator Logan followed Conkling in a similar 
congratulatory speech ; and Eugene Hale, the 
defeated leader of the Blaine forces, said : — 

"Standing here to return our heartfelt thanks to 
the many men in this convention who have aided 
us in the fight that we made for the senator from 
Maine, and speaking for them here, as I know 
that I do, I say this most heartily : "We have not 
got the man whom we hoped to nominate when we 
came here, but we have got a man in whom we 
have the greatest and most marked confidence. 
The nominee of this convention is no new and 
untried man, and in that respect he is no 'dark 
horse.' When he came here, representing his 
State in the front of his delegation and was seen 
here, every man knew him because of his record ; 



192 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and because of that and because of our faith in 
him, and because we were in the., emergency, glad 
to help make him the candidate of the Republican 
party for President of the United States, — because, 
I say, of these things, I stand here to pledge the 
Maine forces in this convention to earnest effort 
until the ides of November, to help to carry him to 
the presidential chair." 

Short speeches followed from members of the 
other delegations and the nomination of James A. 
Garfield was declared unanimous. 

While shaking hands with the crowd that gath- 
ered around him, Garfield turned to a correspond- 
ent of the Cleveland Herald and said gravely : — 

"I wish you would say that this is no act of 
mine. 1 wish you would say that I have done 
everything and omitted nothing to secure Secretary 
Sherman's nomination. I want it plainly under- 
stood that I have not sought this nomination, and 
have protested against the use of my name. If 
Senator Hoar had permitted, I would have for- 
bidden anybody to vote for me. But he took me 
off my feet before I had said what I intended. I 
am very sorry it has occurred, but if my position 
is fully explained, a nomination, coming unsought 
and unexpected like this, will be the crowning 
gratification of my life." 

Before nominating the Vice-President, the con- 
vention took a short recess, and Garlield attempted 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 193 

to leave the hall. He was immediately surrounded, 
however, by an enthusiastic crowd, who followed 
him to the door and tried to take the horses off 
his carriage that they might draw it themselves. 

A serenade followed at the Grand Pacific Hotel, 
but Garfield declined to respond to the ovation 
further than to give his thanks. More than six 
hundred congratulatory telegrams were received 
during the evening, among the most notable of 
which were the followino - : — 

Executive Mansion, Washington, 
June 8th, 1880. 
To General James A. Garfield : 

. You will receive no heartier congratulations to-day than 
mine. This both for your own and your country's sake. 

(Signed) R. B. Hayes. 

Washington, June 8th, 1880. 
Hon. James A. Garfield, Chicago: 

I congi-atulate you with all my heart upon your nomina- 
tion as President of the United States. You have saved the 
Republican party and the country from a great peril, and 
assured the continued success of Republican principles. 
(Signed) John Sherman. 

"The vote of Maine just cast for you is given you with 
my hearty concurrence. I assure you of my belief that 
you will have a glorious victory in November. 

James G. Blaine. 

Milwaukee, June 8th, 1880. 
"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou 
art promised." Lawrence Barrett. 



194 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEEVTCES OF 

Washington, June 8th 1 880. 

" Accept my hearty congratulations. The country is to 
be congratulated as well as yourself. C. Schurz. 

Similar dispatches were received from other 
members of the cabinet, and from various senators 
and representatives at Washington. When Gen- 
eral Grant heard the news he said, "It is all right — 
1 am satisfied." 

At the earnest request of the delegates, an 
informal reception was held at the Grand Pacitic, 
and near midnight Garfield responded to the com- 
mittee appointed to notify him officially of his 
nomination, as follows : — 

"Mr. Chairmen and Gentlemen, — I assure 
you that the information you have officially given 
me brings a sense of very grave responsibility, 
and especially so in view of the feet that I was 
a member of your body, a fact that could not 
have existed with propriety had I had the slightest 
expectation that my name would be connected 
with the nomination for the office. I have felt 
with you great solicitude concerning the situation 
of our party during the struggle, but believing 
that you are correct in assuring me that substantial 
unity has been reached in the conclusion, it 
gives me gratification far greater than any personal 
pleasure your announcement can bring. 

"I accept the trust committed to my hands. As 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 195 

to the work of our party and the character of the 
campaign to be entered upon, I will take an early 
occasion to reply more fully than I can properly 
do to-night. I thank you for the assurances of 
confidence and esteem you have presented to me, 
and hope we shall see our future as promising as 
are the indications to-nio;ht." 

In a similar manner Senator Hoar and the com- 
mittee officially apprized General Arthur of his 
nomination to the Vice-Presidency ; his acceptance 
was given in a brief informal speeeh, but it was 
not till the tf small hours " that the excited crowds 
began to disperse. 



196 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

Return Home. — Ovations on the Way- — Address at Hiram Institute. 
— Impromptu Speech at Washington. — Incident of the Eagle. — 
The Tract Distributor. 

The next morning, Garfield left Chicago for his 
home in Mentor. The journey thither was one 
continual scene of ovations. An immense throng- 
followed him from the hotel to the station, and a 
lar^e committee from Cleveland met the train at 
Elyria. 

As the car containing Garfield and Governor 
Foster of Ohio, entered the depot at Cleveland, a 
salute of a thousand guns was fired. A procession 
of the militia and the Garfield clubs accompanied 
them to the Kennard House, and among the trans- 
parencies borne by the crowd was one with the 
happy inscription : — 

" Ohio's senator, Ohio's Major-General, Ohio's President. 
The true favorite son of Ohio is the favorite son of the 
Union. He who at the age of sixteen steered a canal-hoat 
will steer the ship of state at fifty." 

Garfield had promised to deliver an address at 
the commencement exercises of Hiram College. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



197 



The morning after his arrival in Cleveland, there- 
fore, he left as quietly as possible for the little 
town, where thirty years before he had held the 
humble position of college janitor. 

"I have sought but one office in my life," he said 
one day to a friend, "and that was the office of 
janitor at Hiram Institute." 

As he approached the college grounds the 
students came out in a body to greet him. It was 
a touching scene, and his beautiful address to them 
is given in full, in the latter part of the volume.* 
With all his honors he never forgot this place so 
" full of memories." 

After a short sta} T at Hiram, he went on to his 
home in Mentor, to take a few days' rest before 
returning to "Washington. 

His address to the enthusiastic crowds that 
gathered around him when he reached the Capi- 
tol, is so full of his peculiar magnetic power that 
we give it entire : — 



w Felloav-Citizexs : — While I have looked upon 
this great array, I believe I have gotten a new idea 
of the majesty of the American people. 

" When I reflect that whenever you find sovereign 
power, every reverent heart on this earth bows 
before it, and when I remember that here for a 
hundred years we have denied the sovereignty of 

* See page 478. 



198 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

any man, and in place of it we have asserted the 
sovereignty of all in place of one, I see before me 
so vast a concourse it is easy for me to imagine 
that were the rest of the American people gathered 
here to-night, every man would stand uncovered, 
all in unsandalled feet in presence of the majesty 
of the only sovereign power in this Government 
under Almighty God. 

"And therefore to this great audience I pay the 
respectful homage that in part belongs to the 
sovereignty of the people. I thank you for this 
great and glorious demonstration. I am not, for 
one moment, misled into believing that it refers to 
so poor a thing as any one of our number. I 
know it means your reverence for your Govern- 
ment, your reverence for its laws, your reverence 
for its institutions, and your compliment to one 
who is placed for a moment in relations to you of 
peculiar importance. For all these reasons I thank 
you. 

" I cannot at this time utter a word on the sub- 
ject of general politics. I would not mar the 
cordiality of this welcome, to which to some 
extent all are gathered, by any reference except to 
the present moment and its significance ; but I 
wish to say that a large portion of this assemblage 
to-night are my comrades, late of the war for the 
Union. For them I can speak with entire pro- 
priety, and can say that these very streets heard 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



1&9 



the measured tread of your disciplined feet, years 
ago, when the imperilled Republic needed your 
hands and your hearts to save it, and you came 
back with your numbers decimated ; but those you 
left behind were immortal and glorified heroes for- 
ever; and those you brought back came, carrying 
under tattered banners and in bronzed hands the ark 
of the covenant of your Republic in safety out of 
the bloody baptism of the war, and you brought it 
in safety to be saved forever by your valor and the 
wisdom of your brethren who w T ere at home, and 
by this you were again added to the great civil 
army of the Republic. 

" I greet you, comrades and fellow-soldiers, and 
the great body of distinguished citizens who are 
gathered here to-night, who are the strong stay and 
support of the business, of the prosperity, of the 
peace, of the civic ardor and glory of the Republic, 
and I thank you for your welcome to-night. 

" It was said in a welcome to one who came to 
England to be a part of her glory — and all the 
nation spoke when it was said, — 

" ' Normans and Saxons and Danes are we, 
But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee.' 

" And we say to-night of all nations, of all the 
people, soldiers, and civilians, there is one name 
that welds us all into one. It is the name of 
American citizen, under the union and under the 



200 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

glory of the flag that led us to victory and peace. 
For this magnificent welcome I thank you with all 
my heart." 

A singular incident occurred in Washington, 
upon the day of Garfield's nomination at Chicago. 
Almost at the very moment the ballot was cast, a 
large bald eagle circled around the Park, and 
finally swooped down and rested upon the little 
house on the corner of I and Thirteenth Streets. 

It was seen by Mr. George W. Rose, Garfield's 
private stenographer, who occupied the house 
during his absence, and he says that "before the 
eagle rose from its strange perch a dozen people 
had noticed and commented upon it." 

Another curious coincident is worthy of notice. 
On that memorable Tuesday morning as Garfield 
entered the Exposition building, where the conven- 
tion was assembled, a slip of paper was thrust into 
his hand by a tract distributor. 

He put it mechanically into his pocket without 
reading, and was not a little astonished that even- 
ing when it dropped out and he found upon it these 
words : — 

"This is the stone which was set at naught of 
you builders, which is become the head of the cor- 
ner ; neither is there salvation in any other. " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 201 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

News of the Nomination Received with Delight. — Mr. Robeson speaks 
for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. — Ratification 
Meeting at Williams College. — Governor Long's Opinion.— 
Hotly-contested Campaign. — Garfield Receives the Majority of 
Votes.— Is Elected President on the Second of November, 1880. 
— Extract from Letter of an Old Pupil. — Review of Garfield's 
Congressional Life. — His own Feelings in Regard to the Election. 

The news of the nomination at Chicago was 
received with unfeigned delight throughout the 
country. In the House of Representatives at 
Washington, Mr. Robeson, by request, spoke for 
the Democrats as well as the Republicans, in terms 
of the highest commendation of the new nominee ; 
and three hearty cheers were given for him by 
both parties. 

A ratification meeting was immediately held at 
Williams College, and the excited students sang as 
a chorus to " Marching through Georgia : " 

"Hurrah! hurrah! we'll shout for General G. ! 
Hurrah! hurrah! a Williams man was he, 
And so we'll sing the chorus from old Williams to the sea, 
And we'll cast a vote for Garfield! " 

Governor Long, of Massachusetts, when asked 
his opinion of the nomination, said, — 



202 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" I feel an especial pride and satisfaction in the 
nomination of Garfield, as I have both desired and 
publicly urged it from the first. 

" I regard General Garfield as a representative 
Republican, a sound statesman, a thorough scholar, 
and with that good record as a soldier which never 
yet has failed to be a claim upon the hearts of the 
American people. I regard it as felicitous in 
General Garfield that, like so many of his prede- 
cessors, he sprang from the humbler walks of life, 
and, by his own efforts, has made his own way to 
eminence, and is not identified as the special repre- 
sentative of wealth or any great controlling in- 
terests. 

" As a representative from the old Joshua Gid- 
dings district, he has stood from the first as an 
exponent of equal rights, and he has been an 
advocate of honest money in the days when it cost 
something to face the f Ohio idee.' Add to this 
his high personal character, his purity and integ- 
rity, and yet his entire approachableness, and you 
have an ideal candidate who commends himself to 
every good element in the party and welds it firmly 
together again, and whose nomination is his elec- 
tion." 

The press were remarkably unanimous in their 
praise of Garfield. Even the Southern papers 
seemed pleased with the nomination, and the New 
Orleans Times said, — 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 203 

" Garfield is a very fair representative of the 
better element of the Republican party, superior 
to most of his competitors at Chicago in mental 
force, and equal to them in other essential at- 
tributes." 

When the Democratic candidate for President 
was announced, and the strong names of Hancock 
and English were pitted against those of Garfield 
and Arthur, a close contest was anticipated. And 
the hot campaign that followed will long be re- 
membered in the annals of our country. 

Some of the states that had been securely 
counted upon by the Republicans, went over to 
the Democrats ; but, when the final returns were 
given on the second day of November, 1880, it 
was found that Garfield had carried twenty of 
the thirty-eight states, receiving two hundred and 
fourteen of the electoral votes, while Hancock 
had but one hundred and fifty-five. 

One of Garfield's old pupils, upon hearing the 
news, wrote to a friend in New York as follows : — 

" We of 'old Portage County,' where his ability 
was first recognized, and from which no delegate 
to any convention where his name has been pre- 
sented ever voted against him, knowing him well 
and trusting him fully, rejoice with exceeding joy 
in the results of Tuesday's election. . . . We be- 
lieve no manlier man ever headed a ticket for the 
office. He is as pure as Washington, as brave as 



204 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Jackson, as humane as Lincoln, and as grand and 
able as Daniel Webster. He is broad enough for 
the whole country, and sectionalism will find no 
sympathy in him." 

The editor of a leading Boston paper wrote the 
following fine review of Garfield's congressional 
life: — 

:t The election of General Garfield to the office 
of President is, in some sense, a departure from 
the custom of the country. He is the first man 
who has had long and thorough experience in the 
legislative branch of the government, holding for 
many years the position of a leader of a party 
both while in power and while out of power, and, 
consequently, thoroughly familiar with all the 
business of the nation, who has been raised to 
the Presidential office. It had almost come to be 
thought that no man could go directly from Con- 
gress to the Presidency. 

" It is not unreasonable to expect that the ad- 
ministration of General Garfield will be marked by 
some peculiar features dependent upon these con- 
ditions. For eighteen years he has been a mem- 
ber of the House of Representatives, all the time 
a conspicuously active member, and a large part 
of the time a recognized leader. He has served 
on all the more important committees, and been 
chairman of several. He has been a close and 
eager student of the theory and the practice of our 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 205 

form of government, at once a philosophical states- 
man, a shrewd, practical politician, and an accom- 
plished debater of legislative measures. His char- 
acter, his accomplishments, his position, his tastes, 
have favored and compelled him to form personal 
acquaintance with all classes of influential men, so 
that probably there is not in the country another 
who has so extensive a circle of acquaintances 
among men who are potent in forming and direct- 
ing public opinion. 

" Every great interest of American life knows 
that he has sounded it, and apprehends and appre- 
ciates its capacity. In church, and college, and 
market, and among the plain people who toil in 
shops and fields, he is regarded as a friend who 
has regarded their necessities and spoken and 
labored in their cause. 

" There is not a policy of administration which 
he has not analyzed ; there is not a depart- 
ment of the public service with the scope and 
work of which he is not acquainted. He will 
come to his office better equipped for intelligent 
conduct of national affairs than any man who has 
preceded him for two generations at least, and the 
best part of his equipment is his broad, hopeful 
faith in freedom, equal rights, and impartial jus- 
tice as the safe conditions of progress." 

In the midst of all this spontaneous burst of 
enthusiasm, Garfield himself writes to a friend, — 



206 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" I believe all my friends are more gratified with 
the personal part of my triumph than I am, and, 
although I am proud of the noble support I have 
received, and the vindication it gives me against 
my assailants, yet there is a tone of sadness run- 
ning through this triumph which I can hardly 
explain." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 207 



CHAPTER XXVH. 

At Mentor. — The Journey to Washington. — Inauguration Day. — 
Immense Concourse of People. — The Address. — Sworn into Of- 
fice. — Touching Scene. — Grand Display. — Inauguration Ball. — 
Announcement of the Members of the Cabinet. — Two Great Prob- 
lems. — How they were Solved. — Disgraceful Rupture in the 
Senate. — Prerogative of the Executive Office vindicated. 

The few months that elapsed between the elec- 
tion and the inauguration were spent by Garfield 
in the quiet home at Mentor. 

One day an intimate friend of the family asked 
Mrs.. Garfield if she were not looking forward 
with pleasant anticipations to her life in the White 
House. 

"No," she answered, simply and sincerely, "I 
can only hope it will not be altogether unhappy." 

The words occasioned surprise at the time — 
afterwards they seemed like a sad prophecy. 

Inauguration day drew near, and the journey 
from Mentor to Washino-ton was one continual 
series of ovations. Then that memorable fourth 
of March at the capital. " Who that beheld the 
inspiring spectacle," exclaims one writer, " can 
ever see it grow pale in memory ! " 

Before noon thousands of people had gathered 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 209 

and his wonderful magnetism held the whole crowd 
spell-bound. 

At the close of the address, the oath of office 
was administered by the Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court, and then the immense throngs of 
people began slowly to disperse. 

The threatening clouds of the early morning had 
all disappeared, and the bright March sun looked 
down upon a most touching, beautiful picture, as 
the new President turned around to his dear old 
mother, the guiding star of his life — and tenderly 
kissed her. 

" Ah! not in Greece or Rome alone 

High mother-hearts shall swell; 
America's unsculptured stone! 

Will Garfield legends tell, — 
How at the height of fame he durst — 

The proudest moment of his life — 
To put the white-haired mother first, 

Then turned and kissed his wife. " 

As soon as the evening twilight came on, a grand 
display of fireworks illuminated the city. The 
Inauguration Ball was one of the most brilliant 
ever held in Washington. The hall was finely 
decorated. Just in the centre of the rotunda was 
a statue of America, surrounded by tropical plants ; 
in her left hand she held a shield, and from her 
right, a powerful electric light in the form of a 
torch shone down the four wing's of the building;. 



210 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Heavy festoons of evergreens, intertwined with 
rare flowers, hung from the ceiling, and the lofty 
pillars were decorated with streamers of bunting 
and the shields of the States and Territories. 

Some four thousand people had assembled in the 
building before the arrival of the presidential 
party. Garfield did not take part in the dancing, 
but after an hour spent in hand-shaking, he retired 
to a balcony where his wife and mother were 
seated, and watched with evident enjoyment the 
brilliant scene below. 

The next day the Senate had a special session, 
and the President announced his Cabinet as 
follows : — 

Secretary of State: James G. Blaine. 
Secretary of the Treasury : William Windom. 
Secretary of the Interior : Samuel J. Kikkwood. 
Secretary of the Navy : William H. Hunt. 
Secretary of War : Robert T. Lincoln. 
Postmaster-General : Thomas L. James. 
Attorney-General : Wayne McVeagh. 

The different elements of the Kepublican party 
represented by these names seemed to presage 
rough waters for the ship-of-state ; but the choice 
was made with clear-sighted judgment. 

Two great problems confronted President Gar- 
field as he assumed the reins of government. 
First, what should be done with the national debt, 
so rapidly maturing ? 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 211 

After considerable investigation, it was deemed 
best to extend the bonds at a lower rate of 
interest, that is, three and a half per cent. Gar- 
field's accurate knowledge of political economy 
and finance saved the country many millions of 
dollars by this wise plan ; and the loans as fast as 
they have become due have been paid by new 
bonds issued at this lower rate. 

The second problem was not to be solved so 
readily. How could half a million of importunate 
office-seekers be appeased, when only a hundred 
thousand offices were in the President's power to 
bestow ? 

The baleful influence of the wretched spoils sys- 
tem began its evil work at once. 

Said a leading political paper : — 

"The feeling has become a very dominant one 
that the Government owes every man a living. 
This is found all the way up from the country 
school district to town, city, county, state and 
nation. It need not be said this is an unhealthy 
condition of things in every aspect. It diverts 
men's minds from the old paths of industry, and 
badly demoralizes families and communities. It 
leads to all manner of crimes, and so intensifies 
party spirit that all laws provided for their punish- 
ment are practically inoperative." 

President Garfield had never had any sympathy 
with the system that tries to appease its party 



212 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

by "liquidating personal obligations with public 
trusts." In organizing his administration, he 
desired to unite and consolidate the Republican 
party, and to make such appointments as were for 
the manifest good of the whole country. But it 
was impossible for him to do this without exciting 
opposition ; the disgraceful rupture in the Senate 
immediately followed, and the first weeks of his 
administration presented one continued series of 
hotly-contested battles. 

That the President held his own, in spite of all 
adverse criticism, showed at once the strong, un- 
yielding hand that guided the Ship of State, and 
after-events proved that he was clearly right from 
first to last. 

" President Garfield," said one able writer, 
" used political weapons to combat politicians in 
the matter of the New York Custom House, but 
he achieved much by so doing. For the first time 
since 1876 we have a Republican party in New 
York distinct from the close corporation that has 
controlled the organization there these recent 
years. A nucleus has been established around 
which all shades of Republican opinion can rally 
with the good hope of destroying the despotism 
that has virtually ostracized the best Republicans 
of the State from influential participation in national 
politics. The nucleus is an administration party, 
which invites the co-operation of all who would 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 213 

liberalize the organization. With the overthrow 
of "machine" control, as it has existed in New 
York and Pennsylvania, and the old would-be 
dictators remanded to their proper place, a great 
advance has been made towards that purer con- 
dition of political and public affairs that all honest 
men favor." 



214 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SYNOPSIS. 

The President Plans a Ten- Days' Pleasure-Trip. — Morning of the 
Fateful Day. — Secretary Blaine Accompanies him to the Station. 
— A Mysterious-looking' Character. — Sudden Report of a Pistol. — 
The President Turns and Receives the Fatal Shot. — Arrest of the 
Assassin. — The President Recovers Consciousness and is Taken 
Back to the White House. 

" A wasp flew out upon our fairest son, 
And stung him to the quick with poisoned shaft, 
The while he chatted carelessly and laughed, 
And knew not of the fateful mischief done. 
And so this life, amid our love begun, 
Envenomed by the insect's hellish craft, 
Was drunk by Death in one long, feverish draught, 
And he was lost — our precious, priceless one! 
Oh, mystery of blind, remorseless fate! 
Oh, cruel end of a most causeless hate! 
That life so mean should murder life so great! " 

J. G. Holland. 

The anniversary of our National Independence 
was now close at hand. In spite of the shameful and 
distressing party factions of the previous weeks, 
the country had never seemed in a more pros- 
perous condition. The electric state of the politi- 
cal atmosphere had proved itself an element of 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 215 

purification, not of destruction, and the outlook 
for the future grew brighter every day. 

On the morning of July second, the President 
arose at an early hour. Worn out with the harass- 
ing disturbances of the past weeks, he felt the 
urgent need of a few days' rest and recreation. 
Mrs. Garfield, who had been spending a little time 
at Long Branch, was to join him in New York; 
and together with a few members of the Cabinet 
and their families, the President had planned a ten- 
days' trip through New England. 

It was a lovely summer's morning, The dew 
sparkled on the beautiful lawn and gay parterres 
in front of the White House, the cool trickle of 
the fountain mingled with the twittering of the 
sparrows as they flitted in and out of their nests 
under the great front porch. 

All nature seemed in sympathy with the joyous 
mood of the President, as he gaily tried an athletic 
feat with one of his boys, laughed, jested, and 
talked about the commencement exercises at 
Williams College, which he hoped to attend in a 
few days. 

Not one breath of impending danger, not one 
note of warning was there in the clear, sunny at- 
mosphere of that bright July morning ! 

Shortly after breakfast, Secretary Blaine drove 
up to the White House and accompanied the Presi- 
dent to the station of the Baltimore and Potomac 



216 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEEVICES OF 

Railroad, where the express train to New York 
leaves at 9.30. 

Finding they were ten minutes before time, the 
President and his Secretary remained in the car- 
riage, earnestly talking, until the depot official 
reminded them that the train w T as about to start. 

Arm in arm they passed through the broad 
entrance-door into the ladies' waiting-room, which 
gave them the readiest access to the train beyond. 

The room was almost empty, as most of the 
passengers had already taken their seats in the 
cars, but pacing nervously up and down the ad- 
joining rooms, was a thin, wiry-looking man, whose 
peculiar appearance had once or twice been com- 
mented upon by some of the railroad officials. 
Still, there was really nothing about him to excite 
suspicion. He might have simply missed the 
train ; and, as he seemed inclined to mind his own 
business, no further notice had been taken of him. 

As the President passed through the room, this 
ill-favored looking man^ suddenly sprang up behind 
him, and, taking a heavy revolver from his pocket, 
deliberately aimed it at the noble, commanding 
figure. 

At the sharp report the President turned his 
head with a troubled look of surprise, and Secre- 
tary Blaine sprang quickly to one side. The 
wretch immediately re-cocked his pistol, set his 
teeth, and fired again. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 217 

This time the President fell senseless to the 
floor, and a dazed crowd surrounded him while 
Secretary Blaine sprang after the assassin. The 
cowardly knave was easily secured, and then all 
thoughts centred upon the suffering victim. Mrs. 
White, who had charge of the ladies' waiting- 
room, was the first to see the President fall, and, 
running to his assistance, she knelt down and sup- 
ported him in her arms. The dreadful tidings 
flew hither and thither on eagle-wings. Post- 
master-General James, Secretary Windom, Secre- 
tary Hunt, and others of the party who were to ac- 
company the President on his trip, were soon at 
his side, and messengers were sent in all direc- 
tions. 

A physician was soon on the spot ; the wounded 
man was tenderly placed upon a mattress, and 
carried without delay to the White House. 

Yet, before he was taken from the station, he 
suddenly aroused from his half-unconscious state, 
and turning to one of his friends he said, with his 
old, self-forgetting thoughtfulness, — 

M Rockwell, I want you to send a message to my 
wife. Tell her I am seriously hurt ; how seriously 
I cannot yet say. I am myself, and hope she will 
come to me soon. I send my love to her." 



218 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

At the White House. — The Anxious Throngs. — Examination of the 
Wounds. — The President's ■ Questions. — His Willingness to 
Die. — Waiting for his Wife. — Sudden Relapse. — A Glimmer of 
Hope. — A Sunday of Doubt. — Independence Day. — Remarks 
of George William Curtis. 

The members of the Cabinet and a number 
of the President's personal friends were at the 
White House, when the ambulance containing the 
wounded man drove slowly up the avenue. 

When he saw them on the porch, he raised his 
right hand, and with one of his old, bright smiles, 
gave the military salute. But for the extreme 
pallor of his face, no one would have guessed the 
intense pain he was suffering, as he was borne up- 
stairs to his own room in the southeast corner. 

An excited crowd had already gathered about 
the White House, but troops had been ordered 
from the Washington Arsenal, and armed sentinels 
kept a vigilant guard about the executive Mansion. 

When Dr. Bliss and the other physicians in 
attendance examined the wounds, they found 
the first shot had passed through the arm 
just below the shoulder, without breaking any 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 219 

bones. The other ball had entered the back just 
over the hips, but what direction it had taken, or 
where it had lodged, could not be determined with 
any degree of certainty. The physicians held a 
short consultation, and agreed to search for the 
ball as soon as the President's condition would 
permit. 

The wounded man first complained of pain in 
his feet and legs, and for a long time the " tiger 
clawing," as he called it, seemed harder to bear 
than anything else. It is easy to understand now, 
how seriously the spinal cord and the whole nerv- 
ous system must have been affected by that first 
fearful fracture of the vertebrae. 

As the shock began to pass off, the President "\ 
turned to Secretary Blaine, who was sitting beside 
him, and said, — 

"What motive do you think that man could 
have had in trying to assassinate me ? " 

"Indeed, I cannot tell. He says he had no 
motive." 

"Perhaps," said Garfield, with a smile, "he 
thought it would be a glorious thing to be a 
pirate king." 

Turning to Dr. Bliss, he said, — 

"I want to know my true condition. Do not 
conceal anything from me ; remember, I am not 
afraid to die." 

The President's condition was extremely critical 




220 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

at that time, as there were indications of internal 
hemorrhage, and the doctor frankly told him that 
he feared he could live but a few hours. 

" God's will be done," he replied ; "lam ready 
to go if my time has come." 

As the little group stood in silence about his 
bed, they recalled his words to Colonel Knox only 
a few days before, when warned of the danger that 
might be lurking in hidden corners. 

" I must come and go as usual," he said ; rt I 
cannot surround myself with a body-guard. If 
the good of this country, the interests of pure gov- 
ernment and of the people against one-man power, 
demand the sacrifice of my life, I think I am 
ready.'''' 

The arrival of Mrs. Garfield from Long Branch 
was anxiously awaited all through that long, weary 
afternoon. An accident to the engine delayed the 
train upon which she had started, and it was even- 
ing before she reached the White House. 

The President's quick ears heard the carriage- 
wheels as they rolled over the gravel driveway, 
and with a bright smile, he exclaimed, — 

v That's my wife ! God bless the little woman ! " 
Then the strong-will power that had kept him up 
to this moment, seemed suddenly to give way. His 
attendants thought he was dying, and for hours 
his life hung upon the merest thread. 

Slowly, but surely, the tide began to turn. At 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 221 

midnight be was still conscious — the doctors 
thought there . was " one chance " that he might 
recover — the President had bravely taken that 
one chance ; and with lightning speed the good 
news was telegraphed all over the country. 

Sunday mornN^ the President was so much 
better that he w2 .^ to know what had been said 
about the assassinacl \ — and what was the general 
feeling throughout the country. 

"The country," replied Colonel liockwell, "is 
full of sympathy for you. We will save all the 
papers so that you can see them when you get 
well ; but you must not talk now." 

The President smiled, and in the broken slum- 
ber that followed he murmured to himself, — 
, "The great heart of the people will not let the 
old soldier die ! " i 

The next night was 'one of fearful suspense, and 
the dawn of Independence Day was ushered in 
with mingled feelings of hope and fear. 

A few days later, George William Curtis wrote 
as follows : — 

"No Fourth of July in our history was ever so 
mournful as that which has just passed. In 1826 
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on Inde- 
pendence Day. But the singular and beautiful 
coincidence was not known for some time, and 
then it was felt to be a fitting and memorable end 
of the life of venerable patriots long withdrawn 



222 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICE? OF 

from public affairs. Nearly forty years later, 
1863, there was intense and universal anxiety 
when the great day dawned. Mr. Greeley, in his 
history, calls the ten days preceding the Fourth of 
July in that year the very darkest days the repub- 
lic ever saw. But that was duv' lg the angry fury 
of civil war, when passions a:o<. "emotions of every 
kind were inflamed to the 1 utmost. There was 
fiery party rancor in the feeling of that time, and 
the whole year was full of similar excitement. 

"But the emotion and the spectacle of this year 
are without parallel. In every household there 
was a hushed and tender silence, as if one dearly 
loved lay dying. In every great city and retired 
village the public festivities were stayed, and the 
assembly of joy and pride and congratulation was 
solemnized into a reverent congregation of heads 
bowed in prayer. In foreign countries American 
gayety was suspended. In the British Parliament, 
Whig and Tory and Radical listened to catch from 
the lips of the Prime Minister the latest tidings 
from one sufferer. From the French republic, 
from the old empire of Japan, and the new king- 
dom of Bulgaria, from Parnell, the Irish agitator, 
and from the Lord Mayor of Dublin, came mes- 
sages of sympathy and sorrow. Sovereigns and 
princes, the people and the nobles, joined in 
earnest hope for the life of the Republican Presi- 
dent. The press of all Christendom told the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 223 

mournful story, and moralized as it told. In this 
country the popular grief was absolutely unani- 
mous. One tender, overpowering thought called 
a truce even to party contention. Old and young, 
men and women of all nationalities and of all 
preferences, their differences forgotten, waited all 
day for news, watched the flags and every sign 
that might be significant, and lay down, praying, 
to sleep, thanking God that as yet the worst had 
not come. 

" It was a marvellous tribute. In Europe, it was 
respect for a powerful State ; in America, it was 
affection for a simple and manly character. It is 
plain that the tale of General Garfield's hardy and 
heroic life, the sure and steady rise of this poor 
American boy, taking every degree of honor in 
the great university of experience, equal to every 
occasion, to peace and war, to good fortune and 
ill fortune, had profoundly touched the heart of 
his countrymen. A year ago, every word and 
incident of that life was told by party passion — 
on one side eulogized and extolled; on the other, 
distorted and vilified. Out of the fiery ordeal he 
emerged with a general kindly regard and high 
expectation. Mild and conciliatory in character, 
of long and various political experience, a natural 
statesman with an able mind amply stored and 
especially trained for public duty, simply dignified 
in manner, a powerful man, singularly blameless, 



/ 



224 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

he entered upon the presidency with every happy 
augury. The country was at peace within and 
without, and hummed with universal prosperity. 
The first measures of his administration were both 
wise and fortunate, and the only trouble sprang 
from a source which is rapidly becoming the fatal 
bane of the country — the patronage of office. 
This breeds faction and makes faction fanatical 
and furious. If indignation with fancied slights 
and supposed breaches of faith regarding patronage, 
could so overmaster a conspicuous and experienced 
public man like Mr. Conkling as to drive him 
suddenly to resign the highest political trust which 
his State could bestow, to imperil his public 
career, to astound his friends, and to abandon the 
control of the Senate to his political opponents, it 
is not surprising that fancied neglect of political 
merit and service should bewilder the light brain 
of an unbalanced and obscure camp-follower like 
Guiteau, until, brooding with diseased mind upon 
his 'wrongs,' he should resolve to do 'justice' upon 
the supposed wrong-doer. 

" So, in the most peaceful and prosperous mo- 
ment that this conntry has known for a half-cen- 
tury, the shot of the assassin is tired at a man 
absolutely without personal enemies, and a Presi- 
dent whom even his political opponents respect. 
Then to the impression of brave and generous and 
sagacious manhood, already produced by his career, 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 225 

was added his sweet and tranquil bearing under 
the murderous blow. The unselfish thought of 
others, the cheerful steadiness and even gayety of 
temper, the lofty and manly resignation, with en- 
tire freedom from ostentation of piety, the strong 
love of the strong man for those dearest to him, 
and the noble response of his wife's calm and per- 
fect womanhood to this supreme and courageous 
manhood, tilled the hearts of his countrymen with 
sympathy and love and sorrow, and whether he 
lived or died, his place in the affection of Ameri- 
cans was as secure as Lincoln's. 

" Such feeling of millions of hearts for one man 
is profoundly touching. It gives him a great dis- 
tinction among all mankind. But it is also a bene- 
diction for a people to be lifted by such an emotion. 
It is impossible that party passion should not be 
somewhat subdued by it, and that a wholesome 
sense of shame should not chasten factions and 
disputes. If such are the men with whom bitter 
quarrels are waged, and upon whom unstinted 
contumely and contempt are poured out, shall we 
not all, upon every side, pause and reflect that to 
blow mere party fires to fury, and to trample per- 
sonal character in the mire of angry political dis- 
pute, is to disgrace ourselves and the cause that we 
would serve, and the country whose good name 
depends upon us? That is the reflection which 
this last solemn Fourth of July undoubtedly 



226 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

suo-o-ested. It recalled the country to emotions 
higher than those of the shop and the caucus. It 
is character that makes a country. It is manhood 
like that of Garfield and Lincoln which made the 
past of America, and which makes its future 
possible. Commercial prosperity and politics and 
all national interests rest at last upon the honesty 
and courage and intelligence of the people, not 
upon mines and material resources, nor upon great 
railroads or tariffs or free trade." 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 227 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

The Assassin. — What were his Motives. — His own Confessions. — 
Statement of District- Attorney Corkhill. — Sketch of Guiteau's 
Early Life. 

Together with the overwhelming sense of 
grief and consternation that had spread throughout 
the country, was the eager desire to know Avhat 
motives had actuated the assassin in his terrible 
deed. 

When questioned by the detective who took 
him to jail, Guiteau declared, "I am a Stalwart of 
the Stalwarts ; I did it to save the Republican 
party." 

" Is there anybody else with you in this matter ? " 

" Not a living soul," he replied. "I have con- 
templated the thing for the last six weeks and 
would have shot the President when he went away 
with Mrs. Garfield, but I looked at her, and she 
looked so sick, I changed my mind." 

After a careful investigation of the facts, Dis- 
trict-Attorney Corkhill published the following 
statement : — 

" The interest felt by the public in the details of 
the assassination, and the many stories published, 



228 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

justify me in stating that the following is a correct ■ 
and accurate statement concerning the points to 
which reference is made : The assassin, Charles 
Guiteau, came to Washington city on Sunday 
evening, March 6th, 1881, and stopped at the 
Ebbitt House, remaining only one day. He then 
secured a room in another part of the city, and 
had boarded and roomed at various places, the 
full details of which I have. On Wednesday, 
May 18th, 1881, the assassin determined to mur- 
der the President. He had neither money nor 
pistol at the time. About the last of May he 
went into O'Meara's store, corner of Fifteenth and 
F Streets, this city, and examined some pistols, 
asking for the largest calibre. He was shown two 
similar in calibre, and only different in the price. 
On Wednesday, June 8th, he purchased a pistol, 
for which Tie paid $10, he having, in the mean time, 
borrowed $15 of a gentleman in this city, on the 
plea that he wanted to pay his board bill. On the 
same evening, about seven o'clock, he took the pis- 
tol and went to the foot of Seventeenth Street, and 
practised firing at a board, firing ten shots. He 
then returned to his boarding-place and wiped the 
pistol dry, and wrapped it in his coat, and waited 
his opportunity. On Sunday morning, June loth, 
he was sitting in Lafayette Park, and saw the 
President leave for the Christian Church on Ver- 
mont Avenue, and he at once returned to his 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 229 

room, obtained his pistol, put it in his pocket, and 
followed the President to church. He entered the 
church, but found he could not kill him there 
without danger of killing some one else. He 
noticed that the President sat near a window. 
After church he made an examination of the win- 
dow, and found he could reach it without any 
trouble, and that from this point he could shoot 
the President through the head without killing any 
one else. The following Wednesday he went to 
the church, examined the location and the window, 
and became satisfied he could accomplish his pur- 
pose. He determined to make the attempt at the 
church the following Sunday. Learning from the 
papers that the President would leave the city on 
Saturday, the 18th of June, with Mrs. Garfield, 
for Long Branch, he therefore decided to meet 
him at the depot. He left his boarding-place 
about 5 o'clock Saturday morning, June 18th, and 
went down to the river at the foot of Seventeenth 
Street, and fired five shots to practise his aim, and 
be certain his pistol was in good order. He then 
went to the depot, and was in the ladies' waiting- 
room of the depot, with his pistol ready, when the 
presidential party entered. He says Mrs. Garfield 
looked so weak and frail that he had not the heart 
to shoot the President in her presence, and, as he 
knew he would have another opportunity, he left 
the depot. He had previously engaged a carriage 



230 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

to take him to the jail. On Wednesday evening, 
the President and his son, and, I think, United 
States Marshal Henry, went out for a ride. The 
assassin took his pistol and followed them, and 
watched them for some time, in hopes the carriage 
would stop, but no opportunity was given. On 
Friday evening, July 1, he was sitting on the 
seat in the park opposite the White House, when 
he saw the President come out alone. He fol- 
lowed him down the avenue to Fifteenth Street, 
and then kept on the opposite side of the street 
upon Fifteenth, until the President entered the 
residence of Secretary Blaine. He waited at the 
corner of Fifteenth and H Streets for some time, 
and then, as he was afraid he would attract atten- 
tion, he went into the alley in the rear of Mr. 
Morton's residence, examined his pistol, and waited. 
The President and Secretary Blaine came out to- 
gether, and he followed over to the gate of the 
White House, but could get no opportunity to use 
his weapon. On the morning of Saturday, July 
2d, he breakfasted at the Riggs House about 7 
o'clock. He then walked up into the park, and 
sat there for an hour. He then took a horse-car 
and rode to Sixth Street, got out and went into 
the depot and loitered around there ; had his shoes 
blacked ; engaged a hackman for two dollars to take 
him to the jail ; went into a private room and took 
his pistol out of his pocket, unwrapped the paper 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 231 

from around it, which he had put there to prevent 
the dampening of the powder ; examined his pis- 
tol ; carefully tried the trigger, and then returned 
and took a seat in the ladies' waiting-room, and, 
as soon as the President entered, advanced behind 
him and fired two shots. 

"These facts, I think, can be relied upon as ac- 
curate, and I give them to the public to contradict 
certain false rumors in connection with the most 
atrocious of atrocious crimes." 

Can such a deliberate preparation as this be 
deemed an act of insanity ? 

A gentleman who knew Guiteau as a boy, says 
that he is of French descent, and that his father, 
J. W. Guiteau, was " an old resident and respected 
citizen of Freeport, 111. He married a very beau- 
tiful won>an, and with her and the younger chil- 
dren, he joined the Oneida Community. He after- 
wards returned to Freeport, where he served as 
cashier of the Second National Bank until his death. 
At one time he became deranged on the subject of 
1 Perfection,' and lectured extensively through the 
North and West on that subject. There were 
three children. An elder brother, Wilkes Guiteau, 
for a long time practised law at Davenport, Iowa. 
A younger sister, Flora, was a very promising 
girl. When the family left Oneida Community, 
Charles, then fifteen or sixteen years old, was left 
behind. He afterwards went to Chicago, where he 






232 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

studied law, being cared for and supplied with 
money by his father. After completing his studies, 
he went to Europe, where he travelled several 
years, imbibing Socialistic and other eccentric doc- 
trines. A few years ago he returned to this coun- 
try, and lectured on the second advent of Christ. 
He published a pamphlet on the subject, in which 
the egotism of the man was plainly shown. From 
what I knew of the boy, his education in the 
Oneida Community, and his utterances on religion, 
I was not at all surprised at his committing the act. 
I understand from people employed at the White 
House that Guiteau had forced himself upon the 
President several times. He was an applicant for 
the consulship at Marseilles ; and one day obtained 
access to the President, and acted so rudely that 
the President had him removed. I have no doubt 
that, feeling oifencled by this act, he determined 
on the course which culminated in the terrible 
tragedy of July the second." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 233 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Night of the Fourth. — Extreme Solicitude at the "White House. — 
Description of an Eye-witness. — Attorney McVeagh's Remark. — 
Sudden Change for the Better. — Steady Improvement. — The 
Medical Attendance. 

The night of the Fourth was a time of extreme 
solicitude at the White House. Said one who was 
present : — 

" I sat in the great East Room with the Attor- 
ney-General, — 

"'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'our Garfield was never a 
better President than he was at the moment when 
Guiteau's bullet struck him down. He never saw 
more clearly, and he never had a firmer or better 
purpose. He was going to be all that the best 
thought of the country ever expected of him. He 
was going to be a great President.' 

"The last time I had been in this East Room 
was at Mr. Hayes' last diplomatic reception, when 
thousands of elegantly dressed people thronged it, 
and music and lights made it, for that evening at 
least, the handsomest room in the country. There 
were no lights now. The great spaces were 
gloomy with what seemed to be the gloom of 



234 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

coming death. Through the open windows on the 
south side the summer air stole lazily, and the 
shadows of the draperies seemed to add to the dark- 
ness. There was no music now — only the sound 
of whispered conversation as people went up or 
down the stairs. The result of the early evening 
consultation was unfavorable. Tympanites had 
again appeared, and apparently in a more threaten- 
ing form than before. Grave men shook their heads. 
Even the brave Mrs. Garfield lost somewhat of the 
splendid courage that had sustained her throughout 
her trying ordeal. For the first time after his 
recovery from the shock of the bullet, the President 
seemed to lose hope himself. 

fr Suddenly there was a change for the better. 
Toward midnight, the troubled slumbers of the 
President became peaceful, and he soon sank into 
the best sleep he had enjoyed since the shooting 
on Saturday morning. His pulse and temperature 
became better ; there were signs of an improved 
vitality ; the breathing was easier ; the pains 
ceased ; there was no longer any appearance of 
dangerous inflammation or of peritonitis. Hope 
began to dawn where despondency had been ; the 
faces that had been full of gloom began to look 
hopeful ; there was yet some encouragement. 
Recover}- flung out her signals in the steady breath- 
ings and the peaceful slumber of the President. 
The improvement continued, and again it could be 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 235 

said that there was hope of final recovery. It 
seemed as though the strong will and constitution 
of the man had made; one more effort for life." 

The cheering bulletins on the following morning 
kindled fresh hope in the hearts of the people. 
The general feeling- was expressed that the worst 
was over, and the nation began to take courage. 
By the ninth of July the President was so much 
better, that his children were allowed to come into 
the room. On the 13th, it was reported that his 
appetite was improving, that he had asked for a 
steak, and sandwiches of bread and scraped raw 
beef had been given him. This increase in the 
variety of his food seemed to give him additional 
strength, and the condition of the wound was so 
favorable that it was thought the ball had become 
encysted. 

The first physician who reached the President 
when he lay wounded at the depot, was Dr. Smith 
Townshend, Health Officer of the District of Co- 
lumbia. As soon as he examined the wound, he 
pronounced it necessarily fatal. Immediately after 
the shooting, the Secretary of War, according to 
the President's wishes, had summoned Dr. Bliss, 
who with other physicians reached the depot soon 
after Dr. Townshend. 

" On the following Sunday morning," says Dr. 
Bliss, "when the President had fully reacted, had 
had several hours of rest, was cheerful and compe- 



236 LIFE AND TUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tent to attend to any ordinary business, I presented 
the matter of his professional attendance to him, 
Mrs. Garfield being present. I then explained to 
him fully, the valuable professional assistance the 
large number of medical gentlemen had rendered 
up to that time, representing, as they did, the 
best medical talent in the city. His reply was, — 

ff f Of course, doctor, it will not do to continue 
the large number of medical gentlemen in attend- 
ance ; such a number of surgeons would be 
cumbersome and unwieldy.' 

"I said then : 'Mr. President, it is your duty to 
select your medical attendants now.' 

"He replied: f I desire you to take charge of 
my case. I know of your experience and skill, 
and have full confidence in your judgment, and 
wish you to thank the doctors individually for 
their kind attendance.' I thanked him, and 
replied that it would be necessary to select three 
or four medical assistants as counsel in the case. 
He replied, — 

" f I shall leave that entirely with you; you 
know what talent you require, and your judgment 
is best upon that point.' I then selected in order 
the gentlemen who were immediately associated in 
the case, Surgeon-General J. K. Barnes, of the 
army ; and Doctors J. J. Woodward and' Robert 
Iieyburn, slating in each instance the reason for 
so doing. He said that was eminently satisfactory 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 237 

to him. I then turned to Mrs. Garfield and 
said, — 

" ! If you desire to add one or more to the num- 
ber selected, I shall be happy to unite them to our 
counsel.' Her reply was, — 'I would not add one 
to the number you have selected, and I want to 
say to you, doctor, that you shall not be embar- 
rassed in any way in your future treatment of this 
case.' Neither the President nor Mrs. Garfield, 
nor any member of the household from that time 
forward, suggested the name of any other physi- 
cian except the eminent counsel called from 
Philadelphia and New York, Doctors Agnew and 
Hamilton." The last-mentioned physicians arrived 
on Monday morning, and in the consultation that 
followed they expressed their hearty approval of 
the treatment adopted. While so much uncer- 
tainty remained as to the exact location of the 
ball, it was folly to risk the President's life in an 
attempt to remove it. 



238 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

A relapse. — Cooling Apparatus at the White House. — The President 
writes a Letter to his Mother. — Evidences of Blood-Poisoning. — 
Symptoms of Malaria. — Removal to Long Branch. — Preparation 
for the Journey. — Incidents by the way. 

On the morning of the twenty-third of July 
there came a relapse. While the physicians 
were examining and dressing his wounds, the 
President experienced a slight rigor, followed 
by an increase of febrile symptoms. This was 
evidently owing to an interruption of the flow of 
pus, and, on the twenty-fourth, an operation was 
performed upon the cavity, by which the patient 
was relieved. 

The intense heat of those July days was very 
debilitating, and a variety of ingenious plans were 
tried to lower the temperature in the sufferer's 
room. The most successful experiment was that 
of Mr. Dorsay's, which was based on the system 
used in cooling the air in mines. It required con- 
siderable machinery, but by its means the tempera- 
ture of the room was reduced to seventy-five 
degrees. The system is as follows : A stationary 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 239 

engine is first employed to compress the air which, 
when crowded into less space, gives out a large 
amount of heat. This is carried away by running 
water, and as soon as the air is again set free, it 
becomes as cool by expansion as it had before been 
heated by compression. 

On the 27th of July, a piece of the fractured 
rib was removed ; the President was again able to 
take nourishing food, the fever subsided, and all 
the bulletins began to assume a cheerful tone. 

And so the long, long days passed by, with fre- 
quent alternations of hope and fear. On the 11th 
of August the President asked for pen and paper 
that he might write a letter. 

" Through all those weary weeks of pain, 
With death's dark angel nigh, 
But once to grasp the accustomed pen 
The trembling fingers try. 

" Those brave words from the strong man bowed, 
Courageously death meeting, 
To whom amid the courtly crowd 
Of great ones sending greeting ? 

" The mother-bosom beat afar — 
To her that tender letter ; 
To her — through life his guiding star — 
He writes he's ' getting better.' " 

By the middle of August it was evident that the 
President was suffering from pyaemia, or blood- 
poisoning. The swollen parotid gland occasioned 



240 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

fresh solicitude, and the stomach refused to per- 
form its ordinary functions. Nourishing ene- 
meta were then administered with excellent results, 
and the lancing of the parotid-swelling afforded 
temporary relief. 

The sufferer longed for a change of air ; the 
malarial atmosphere surrounding the TThite House 
was a constant drawback to his recovery, and 
early in September the physicians decided to 
remove him to Long Branch. The sixth day of 
the month was appointed for the removal, and 
every possible precaution was taken to make the 
journey as easy as possible. The bed, and the 
train in general, were inspected the day before by 
Surgeon-General Barnes and Drs. Bliss and Agnew. 
The train was run out to Benning's Bridge, five 
miles from Washington, and the surgeons thor- 
oughly tested the couch. They said that it was 
perfect, and that no better arrangement could have 
been made for the President's journey. In the 
test of speed the doctors were surprised to find 
that there was notably less motion and jar at forty 
miles than at thirty. 

The express wagon which was to convey the 
President to the depot, was in waiting at the front 
entrance to the Executive Mansion all night. It 
was a new vehicle, and the springs being well 
oiled, could not impart much jarring to the bed on 
which the President would lie. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 241 

When the track was being laid through Elberon, 
on which he was to be taken to the Francklyn cot- 
tage as a last hope, the surveyor apologized to a 
lady whose garden it laid waste. 

" Your flowers have required the labor of many 
summers, madam, and we shall ruin them," he 
said. 

,r O sir!" she cried, "I am willing you should 
ruin my house — all I have, if it would help to 
save him ! " 

There was to be a double departure from the 
White House. The President's sons, Harry and 
James, were to start for Williams College, and 
shortly before ten o'clock on the evening of the 
fifth, they bade their father good-by, and took 
leave of their mother who was hopeful and cour- 
ageous, believing the journey to Long Branch 
would save her husband's life. Their countenances 
were grave, and the passers-by, as they respect- 
fully made way for them, could not but feel that 
the two young men were just about to start upon 
a career as, possibly, their distinguished father 
was about to end one. 

Private Secretary Brown gives the following 
account of the trip to Long Branch : " Upon leav- 
ing the Executive Mansion the President appeared 
to enjoy the scenery and looked around inquiringly. 
All the way from the White House to the depot 
the President was very anxious to observe every- 



242 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

thing, and in this he was not prevented. He 
experienced little or no disturbance in being 

transferred from the vehicle to the ear, and his 
pulse, although slightly accelerated, reaching about 
115, fell to about 106 before the train started, and 
shortly afterward fell to 104 and again to 102. 
The first stop of the train was made at Patapsco, 
at which point the parotid gland was dressed. 
At half-past nine o'clock the President's pulse was 
108 and of good character. At that hour three 
ounces of beef extract were administered. Between 
Philadelphia and Monmouth Junction, the special 
train made several miles at the rate of seventy 
miles per hour. Pay View, this side of Balti- 
more, was reached at 8.05, and a brief stop was 
made to enable the surgeons to make the morning 
dressing of the wound. The wound was found to 
have suffered no derangement bv the travel. The 
dressing was soon accomplished, and the train, 
after leaving Bay View, was run at the rate of 
about fifty miles per hour. The track in this 
locality is very straight, and in excellent condition, 
and though the speed was at times greater than 
fifty miles per hour, the vibration of the Presi- 
dent's bed, it is said, was no more than had the 
train been moving twenty-live miles per hour. 
The attending surgeons feel very much gratified 
with the manner in which the removal was con- 
ducted, and are generally of the opinion that, with 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 243 

the exception of being slightly fatigued, the 
President bore the journey exceedingly well. 

"This is a great journey, Crete," he said to his 
wife, as the train rushed on at lightning speed. 

"Let her go! The faster the better," he added, 
'Alien the doctors expressed their fears that the 
rapid motion of the engine would tire him. 

" Don't put down the curtain ! I want to .^cc 
the people ! Let them look in ! " he exclaimed, as 
he caught a glimpse of the eager, anxious crowds 
at the different stations. 

One of the Boston dailies wrote as follows — 
"In the preparations for the trip the great popu- 
lar solicitude for the well-being • of the President 
infected even soulless railroad corporations, as they 
are sometimes called, so that the management of 
the lines over which he had to pass could not do 
too much to reduce the fatigue or other injurious 
effect of the jaunt. It is a credit to our common 
humanity, that everybody in any way conne 
with this transfer of the President, from the me- 
chanic to the railroad director, required no spur 
hut his own feelings to exert himself to the utmost 
for the safety and comfort of him who had suf- 
fered so terribly, and evinced such grand qualities 
under the most adverse circumstances. No rail- 
road train was ever the burden of so much anx- 
ious, prayerful solicitation as that conveying the 
President to his destination. To change and apply 



244 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

one of General Garfield's own expressions, the 
great heart of the nation must have nobly sus- 
tained the presidential patient as he sped on his 
way to a locality where, it is hoped, the recuper- 
ating processes of nature will place him on the 
high road to convalescence. 

" Our despatches note the arrival of the presiden- 
tial train at different points, and the manner in 
which the patient bore the ride. As may well be 
imagined, the people who gathered in Washington 
to see him on board the train could not help re- 
marking his generally emaciated appearance, but 
he was sufficiently strong to turn upon his side and 
wave his adieus to the crowd. The fortitude and 
will of the President are as surprising as the many 
unusual episodes of his life. " 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 245 



CHAPTER. XXXIII. 

Description of the Francklyn Cottage. — The Arrival at Long Branch 
— The President is Drawn up to the Open Window. — Enjoys the 
Sea View and the Sea Breezes. —The Surgical Force Reduced. — 
Incident on the Day of Prayer. 

"The Francklyn cottage at Long Branch, to 
which the President was taken, is about fifty yards 
southeast of the hotel . Its front is within one hun- 
dred feet of the edge of the bluff, from which a 
pebble can be dropped into the surf. The build- 
ing contains twenty rooms. It is a long, rambling 
structure, two and one-half stories high, having 
seven gables and being in fashion a mixture of the 
Queen Anne and Swiss chalet style. The lower 
stories are painted a sienna color, and gables and 
roof a dark slate. 

" A perfectly smooth lawn of well-kept turf sur- 
rounds it upon every side. Its interior apartments 
are perfect ; the kitchen is separated from the main 
part of the building by a covered driveway, and 
none of the culinary odors can reach the dwelling 
portion. Two spacious parlors and an immense 



246 LIFE AND 1 : ERVICES OF 

dining-hall faces the ocean, and a broad double win- 
dow opens upon a large uncovered veranda about 
six feet above the ground, surrounded by a high 
railing. 

" The west or rear part of the dining-hail opens 
upon the main hall, a roomy thoroughfare, from 
which by the landings a broad flight of stairs ascend 
to the second floor. The stairs are of ample width, 
and allowed the President's bed to be carried up 
them without difficulty. The chamber occupied 
by the President is in the northeast corner of the 
building. It is about twenty feet square. There 
is one broad window facing the ocean on the east, 
and the windows facing the ocean on the south. 
By leaving the door of the chamber open a breeze 
can be obtained from every point of the compass 
except the north. The windows are protected 
from the sun by awnings and blinds." 

The appointments of the chamber are perfect 
in every respect, being left just as Mr. Franck- 
lyn's family occupied it. About one hundred 
yards south of the Francklyn cottage is the cot- 
tage belonging to the hotel assigned to Mrs. Gar- 
field and her family. 

It was about a quarter past one when the Presi- 
dent's train was observed slowly making its way 
over the new track at Long Branch. There was 
no whistling, no bell-ringing, no noisy puffing of 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 247 

the engine, no .shouts nor cheers. A powerful 
locomotive slowly, and almost silently, pushed be- 
fore it the cars of the train, the centre one being 
the President's. 

The train stopped opposite the Elberon, and 
immediately many flocked about it to learn the 
particulars of the journey. All were told that 
the trip had been successful, and the President 
was quite as well as when he started. The delay 
was but for a moment. The forward car was un- 
coupled from the train and a large force of men, 
held in readiness, gently pushed it around the 
quarter circle and past the entrance to the cottage. 
It was occupied by a few ladies and gentlemen of 
the President's household, who at once left it and 
were escorted into the house. 

Another gang of men pushed on the President's 
car close after it. It was stopped at the proper 
place, and immediately a soldier mounted by lad- 
der to the roof and the sailcloth awning was 
raised. It did not, however, completely conceal 
the passage on the side where the people were 
gathered. The planks were put in position, and 
in a moment two or more soldiers were seen to 
pass bearing a low bedstead. Many thought that 
the President was resting on it, but this was a 
mistake. 

Three or four minutes later a mattrass on which 



248 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

was plainly discernible under snowy coverings the 
form of a human body, was steadily and gently, 
almost solemnly, borne from the car to the house, 
while two or three hundred spectators, too far 
away and on too low a level to catch sight of the 
face, held their breath in sympathy, their eyes 
meantime moist with tears they cared not to con- 
ceal, and many doubtless praying with deep earn- 
estness that this heroic effort to save a precious 
life would avail. There was not a cheer, not an 
audible sound uttered by any one. Few scenes 
could be more impressive in their silence and their 
sympathy. 

" Please move me up where I can see the water," 
said the President, soon after being placed in bed. 
His couch was immediately pushed up to the wide 
open window ; he was slightly raised upon it, and 
lay there for some minutes looking out upon the 
sea. Although he was greatly fatigued by the 
journey and his pulse was high, he slept better 
that niffht than he had done for weeks. 

" Don't you think I look better ! " he said next 
morning to one of the attendants ; ft I feel better," 
he added. " This is good air." 

Previous to leaving Washington, after it had 
been determined to remove the President to Long 
Branch, it appears the President asked his wife if 
all the attending surgeons were going along. Mrs. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 249 

Garfield replied that she presumed they were. 
The President then expressed an opinion, the 
effect of which was that he did not see why 
that was necessary. Further discussion on the 
subject brought out the President's wishes, and the 
withdrawal of Drs. Reyburn, Barnes, and Wood- 
ward was the result. Dr. Bliss stated that there 
was no cause for the withdrawal or retirement of 
the surgeons beyond the fact that it was the desire 
or whim of a very sick man, and, as the President 
had entertained the idea that a fewer number of 
physicians could manage his case as well as the 
number heretofore engaged upon it, it was desired 
by Mrs. Garfield that his wishes be complied 
with. The doctor stated further that the best of 
feeling prevailed among the entire corps of sur- 
geons, and that the retirement of Messrs. 
Reyburn, Barnes and Woodward would not in 
any manner affect the intimacy which had grown 
up between them since the President w r as shot. 
After the wish of the President was made known 
to one of the attending surgeons in Washington 
by Mrs. Garfield, a consultation on the subject 
took place, resulting in its reference to Dr. Agnew, 
with a view to obtaining his opinion as to the best 
mode of procedure. Dr. Agnew recommended 
that the President be requested to name the sur- 
geons he was desirous of retaining in charge of 



250 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

his case, which was done. Dr. Bliss, it appears, 
objected to assuming the entire responsibility of 
removing the President to Long Branch, and 
insisted that the entire number of surgeons should 
accompany the patient thither. A compromise 
was then effected, which was that all the surgeons 
should come to Long Branch with the President^ 
but upon arrival, or as soon thereafter as possible, 
the three mentioned should retire. 

The following day, September 8th, as the Presi- 
dent sat in his reclining chair by the open window 
he heard the stroke of bells from the little church 
across the way. 

"Crete," he said to his wife, "what are they 
ringing that bell for ? " 

"Why," said Mrs. Garfield, who had been wait- 
ing for the surprise, "the people are all going 
there to pray for you to get well ; and I am going 
to pray too, James," she added, "that it may be 
soon, for I know already that the other prayer has 
been heard." 

From where he lay, Garfield could see the 
carriages draw up and group after group go in. 
He could even hear the subdued refrain of "Jesus, 
lover of my soul," as it was borne by on its heav- 
enward way. 

Thrilled with emotion, a tear trickled down the 
President's face. After a while, a sweet woman's 



JAMES A . GARFIELD. 251 

voice arose, singing from one of Sir Michael 
Costa's noblest oratorios. 

"Turn thou unto me and have mercy upon me," 
sano- the voice, "for I am desolate ; I am desolate 
and afflicted; the troubles of my heart tire en- 
larged. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses, 
out of my distresses, my God." 



252 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Hopeful Symptoms. — Official Bulletin. — Telegram to Minister 
Lowell. — Incidents at Long Branch. — Sudden Change for the 
Worse. — Touching Scene with his Daughter. — Another Gleam 
of Hope. — Death ends the Brave Heroic Struggle. — The Closing 
Scene. 

On the evening of September 12th, the follow- 
ing official bulletin was published : — 

Long Branch, Sept. 12 — 6 P. M. 
The President has experienced since the issue of the morn 
ing bulletin further amelioration of symptoms. He has been 
able to take an ample amount of food without discomfort, 
and has had several refreshing naps. At the noon exami- 
nation the temperature was 99.2, pulse 106, respiration 20. 
At 5.30 P. M. the temperature was 98.6, pulse 100, respira- 
tion 18. D. W. Bliss. 

D. Hayes Agnew. 

The Attorney-General telegraphed : — 

To Lowell, Minister, London — 10 P. M. — In the absence 
of Mr. Blaine the attending physicians have requested me to 
inform you of the President's condition. He has during the 
day eaten sufficient food with relish, and has enjoyed at in- 
tervals refreshing sleep. His wound and the incisions made 
by the surgeons all look better, the parotid gland has ceased 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 253 

suppuration, and maj' be considered as substantially well. 
He has exhibited more than his usual cheerfulness of spirits. 
his temperature and respiration are now normal, and his 
pulse is less frequent and firmer than at the same hour last 
evening. Notwithstanding these favorable symptoms, the 
condition of the lower part of the right lung will continue 
to be a source of anxiety for some days to come. 

MacVeagii. 

The day before the President had been raised on 
his air pillows, so that he lay looking out on the 
lawn beneath his window, and beyond that to the 
sea. A soldier on duty as a guard was patrolling 
his beat at the edge of the bluff. The soldier 
chanced to look toward the window of the sick 
chamber, and the suffering President feebly raised 
his hand to give the old soldier a salute. The Pres- 
ident of the United States never received a more 
heartfelt salute than the old soldier gave in return 
for this gracious salutation, and about the camp all 
day the soldier, with tears in his eyes, told how the 
great sufferer had honored him. But the incident 
was of more than sentimental value, in that it 
showed that the President took an interest in his 
surroundings, and had vitality enough to tender a 
salute. There were hours at Elberon, when the 
listless eyes would have looked out upon the sea 
and not have recognized the soldier. 

When Secretary Hunt called on the President, 
he informed him that there was no business in his 
department requiring his (the President's) atten- 



254 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tion. It had been the custom of the President to 
refer to the secretary in various nautical terms, 
and after shaking the hand of the President the 
secretary, pointing toward the ocean, remarked, 
" Well, Mr. President, I see you have had to re- 
sort to my domain." " Yes," said the President, 
"there it is, and isn't it beautiful?" 

Everything seemed to indicate .certain, though 
it might be slow, recovery. The people read the 
bulletins, and went about their work with renewed 
hope and courage. On the 17th of September, 
however, Dr. Hamilton stated that " the conditions, 
altogether, were more hazardous than at any time 
since the patient had been at Long Branch." 
Severe rigors had been followed by increased 
pulse, and there was constant danger of his sink- 
ing into a comatose state. 

On the morning of the 19th Dr. Agnew re- 
marked, — 

" The vitality of our patient is something more 
remarkable than I have ever met with in all my 
practice." 

The President awoke from a light slumber, and 
said' to Dr. Bliss, — 

" Doctor, I feel very comfortable, but I also feel 
dreadfully weak. I wish you would give me the 
hand-glass and let me look at myself." 

General Swaim said: "Oh, no, don't do that, 
general. See if you cannot get some sleep." 




In reclining chair, at Long Branch. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 255 

" I want to see myself," the President replied. 
Mrs. Garfield then gave him the hand-glass. 
He held it in a position which enabled him to see 
his face. Mrs. Garfield, Dr. Bliss, Dr. Agnew, 
General Swaim, and Dr. Boynton, stood around 
the bed, saying not a word, but looking at the 
President. He studied the reflection of his own 
features. At length he wearily let the glass fall 
upon the counterpane, and, with a sigh, said to 
Mrs. Garfield, — 

" Crete, I do not see how it is that a man who 
looks as well as I do should be so dreadfully 
weak." 

In a moment or two he asked for his daughter 
Mollie. They told him that she would see him 
later in the day. He said, however, that he 
wanted to see her at once. 

When the child went into the room she kissed 
her father, and told him that she was glad to see 
that he was looking so much better. 

He said : " You think I do look better, Mollie ? " 

She said : " I do papa," and then she took a 
chair and sat near the foot of the bed. 

A moment or two after, Dr. Boynton noticed 
that she was swaying in the chair. He stepped up 
to her, but, before he could reach her, she had 
Mien over in a faint. They carried her out where 
she could get the fresh breeze from the ocean, and, 
after restoratives were applied, she speedily recov- 



256 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

ered. The room was close, the windows were 
closed, and, as Miss Mollie had not been very 
well, all these causes, combined with anxiety, in- 
duced the fainting-fit. 

The President, they thought, had not noticed 
what had happened to his petted child, for he 
seemed to have sunk into the stupor which had 
characterized his condition much of the time. 
But, when Dr. Boynton came back into the room, 
he was astonished to hear the President say, — 

"Poor little Mollie. She fell over like a log. 
What was the matter ? " 

They assured the President that the fainting-fit 
was caused by the closeness of the room, and 
that she was quite restored. He again sank into 
a stupor or sleep, which lasted until the noon ex- 
amination. 

Hope returned during the afternoon, as there 
was no recurrence of the rigors, and the evening 
bulletin was more encouraging than the one 
issued at noon. There seemed to be eveiy indi- 
cation that the President would pass a comfortable 
night. 

"Dr. Bliss," said the Attorney-General, "at 
9.30, went to the cottage to make his final exami- 
nation before he retired for the night. He found 
that the pulse, temperature, and respiration were 
exactly as they were when the evening bulletin 
was issued. There had been no change of any 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 257 

kind. There was every promise of a quiet night. 
All of the doctors retired at once for the night, as 
did all of the attendants, except General Swaim and 
Colonel Rockwell. They remained, and nothing 
transpired until about 10.20 ; then the President 
said, r I am suffering great pain. I fear the end 
is near.' The attendant sent for Dr. Bliss, who 
had retired to Private Secretary Brown's cottage. 
Dr. Bliss came very rapidly. When he entered 
the room he found that the President was in an un- 
conscious state, and that the action of the heart 
had almost ceased. Dr. Bliss said at once that the 
President was dying, and directed the attendants 
to send for Mrs. Garfield and Drs. Agnew and 
Hamilton." 

A Herald postscript had the following from 
Long Branch : " The death-bed scene of the Pres- 
ident was a peculiarly sad and impressive one. 
As soon as the doctors felt that there was no hope, 
the members of the family assembled. The lights 
in the sick-room were turned down. Dr. Bliss 
stood at the head of the bed with his hand on the 
pul-.e of the patient, and consulted in low whispers 
with Dr. Agnew. The private secretary stood on 
the opposite side of the bed, with Mrs. Garfield. 
Miss Lulu Rockwell and Miss Mollie Garfield 
came into the room at the time the President lost 
consciousness. Those about the bed occasionally 
went into the corners of the room and spoke to 



258 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

each other. The solemnity of the occasion fully 
impressed itself upon them. There was no sound 
heard except the gasping for breath of the sufferer, 
whose changing color save indication of the near 
approach of the end. After he had repeated 'It 
hurts,' he passed into a state of unconsciousness, 
breathing heavily at times and then giving a slight 
indication that the breath of life was still in his 
body. The only treatment that was given was 
hypodermic injections of brandy by Dr. Agnew, 
assisted by Dr. Boynton. Occasionally they spoke 
with Dr. Bliss in quiet whispers. The President 
suffered no pain after the time he placed his hand 
upon his heart. He passed away almost quietly. 
The line between life and death was marked by no 
physical exhibition, nor any word. There was 
absolutely no scene. The intervals between gasp- 
ings became longer and presently there was no 
sound. Every one present knew that death had 
come quickly without pain. "When it became evi- 
dent that he was dead, Mrs. Rockwell placed her 
arm around Mrs. Garfield and led her quietly from 
the rpom. She uttered no word. One by one the 
spectators left the scene, the doctors only re- 
maining in the room, and windows were closed. 
Directly afterward Private Secretary Brown tele- 
graphed the boys, James and Harry, at Williams 
College, Mass., and Airs. Eliza Garfield. Those 
were the first despatches sent after the death." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 259 

The following and last " official bulletin " was 
issued at Elberon : — 

September Idlli, at half-past eleven, P. M. 
"The President died at 10.35 P. M. After the bulletin 
was issued at 5.30 this evening, the President continued in 
much the same condition as during the afternoon, the pulse 
varying from 102 to 106, with rather increased force and 
volume. After taking nourishment he fell into a quiet 
sleep about thirty-five minutes before his death, and while 
asleep his pulse rose to 120, and was somewhat more feeble. 
At ten minutes after ten o'clock he awoke, complaining of 
severe pain over tl^p region of the heart, and almost imme- 
diately became unconscious, and ceased to breathe at 10.35. 
(Signed) D. W. Bliss. 

Frank H. Hamilton. 
D. Hayes Agnew. 



260 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Midnight Bells. — Universal Sorrow. — Queen Victoria's Mes- 
sages. — Extract from a London Letter. — The Whitby Fisher- 
men. — The Yorkshire Peasant. — World-wide Demonstrations of 
Grief. 

" There passed a sound at midnight through the land, 
A solemn sound of sorrow and of fear ; 
A sound that fell on every wakening ear 
Bearing a message all could understand." 

The tolling of the bells in every city, town, and 
village throughout the country announced the sad 
tidings of the President's death. The whole 
world stopped to shed a sympathizing tear, and 
among the first expressions of condolence received 
by Mrs. Garfield was the following telegram from 
Queen Victoria : — 

" Balmoral. 

" Words cannot express the deep sympathy I feel with 
you. May God support and comfort you as He alone can. 
(Signed) The Queen. 1 ' 

To Minister Lowell the Queen telegraphed as 
follows : — 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 261 

" With deep grief I and my children learn the sad but 
not unexpected news of the fatal termination of the suffer- 
ings of the President. His loss is a, great misfortune. I 
have learned with deep sorrow that the President has passed 
away." 

Smalley, the correspondent of the New York 
Tribune writing from London said, — 

" It was about four o'clock in the morning of Tues- 
day, by English time, that President Garfield died. 
An hour later the news was here, and some of 
the morning papers published it in a few late copies 
of their morning edition. It was known in the 
provinces at the same moment, and published in 
the same way. Before I say anything about the 
feeling it evoked in high places and with the gen- 
eral public, I should like to mention what occurred 
in the town where I was staying ; "Whitby, a fish- 
ing town and small seaport which is also a water- 
ing-place on the northeast coast of Yorkshire. 
At this season Whitby is the rendezvous for 
herring- fishers, and its little harbor is crowded 
with boats hailing from ports all the way from 
Pentland Firth to Penzance ; Penzance itself send- 
ing a laro-e contingent. The fishermen are a simple 
folk, leading a hard life, untaught, and as free 
from any concern on shore in the general affairs of 
the world as any body of men that could be got 
together. But when they heard that President 
Garfield was dead the}' one and all hoisted their 



262 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

bits of flag at half-mast, and so kept them during 
the day. They held no meeting, passed no reso- 
lutions. I suppose not a man among them could 
have made a speech or drawn up a formal decla- 
ration of sorrow. They acted with no concert of 
any kind. Their way of life makes them all rivals 
and often enemies. Hartlepool has nothing to say 
to Lowestoft, Sunderland quarrels with Arbroath, 
and Whitby itself keeps but ill terms with any of 
its many guests. But somehow they agreed for 
this once. The boats that lay in the river above 
the bridge, next the railway station, were the first 
to hang out their signal of grief. Those in the 
port below soon followed. Not long after, without 
anybody being able to say how the news spread, 
the fleet at anchor outside the harbor one by one 
ran up their ensigns, hauled them half down, and 
there made them fast for the day. 

"Amid the innumerable demonstrations of sor- 
row to be seen and heard these last two days all 
over England, I know of none which more truly 
indicates the essentially popular character of the 
regret which the President's death has excited. 
. . . . ; An English friend who was shooting ten 
days ago over a Yorkshire moor told me that, as 
the scattered line of sportsmen were pushing 
through the heather in silence, the gamekeeper 
met him some yards away, turned and asked : 
'Can you tell me, sir, how President Garfield is?' 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 263 

There on that lonely hillside, three thousand miles 
and more distant from the sufferer, in the early 
morning, beneath a sun which was not yet shining 
upon the President, breathing an air he never 
breathed, this Yorkshire peasant, who had spent 
his life without so much as hearing the President's 
name till a few weeks before ; who knew not the 
letters of which it was formed ; who knew about 
grouse and guns and dogs and the weather, and 
nothing else whatever ; whose interest in life never 
went beyond the stone hut in which he slept and 
ate, and the stretch of furz-clad upland which 
lifted itself against the western sky, — he, like the 
fishermen, had come to think or to feel that, some- 
how or other, the life or death of that far-away 
martyr concerned him too. It is easy to say that 
beneath the shooting-jacket and the jersey beats 
the same human heart. No doubt it does. But 
what was it that set it beating in unison with so 
many millions of others like it with sympathy for 
the President? Lord Palmerston said he never 
knew what fame was till he heard of the Tartar 
mothers on the steppes of Russia in Asia frighten- 
ing their children into quiet with some queer 
travesty of his dreaded name. Yorkshire is not 
so remote as Russian Asia, indeed, but the 
friendly concern of the gamekeeper Avas surely a 
truer measure of real fame than the ignorant terror 
of the Muscovite mother. I know I thought 



264 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

when I heard it that the President who lay dying 
would have valued such a proof of the universal- 
ity of the interest in him not less than those 
expressions of it — certainly not less genuine — 
which came from much higher quarters." 

Said another writer : — 

"The American people cannot fail to be deeply 
impressed by the multitudinous expressions of 
sympathy which have come from foreign lands. 
It was to be expected that there would be the 
usual and formal messages from the various rulers, 
but it is something of quite a different sort, and 
something altogether beyond precedent which we 
are witnessing. From all the governments of 
Europe, and from those of the Orient as well, and 
from our nearer neighbors, Canada and Mexico, 
words of sympathy and condolence have come. 
But beyond all this, and more precious, are the 
manifestations of popular feeling in countries other 
than our own, and especially in Great Britain 
and Canada. We hear of public and private 
buildings draped in mourning, of mourning-flags 
upon English Cathedrals, of the tolling of bells 
in English and Canadian churches, of English and 
French journals Avith mourning borders. The 
Queen sends a warm, womanly message of sym- 
pathy to the wicloAV ; and the English Court puts 
on mourning for a week. And all these world- 
wide demonstrations of grief, sincere, spontaneous 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 265 

and universal, are called out by the death of this 
uncrowned republican of our Western world, a 
man born of the people, schooled in hardship, but 
strong and noble in all that pertains to true man- 
hood. Such a spectacle as this, such tributes as 
these from foreign potentates and peoples whose 
ideas and methods of government vary so widely 
from ours, should not pass without being heeded, 
and the lesson which they convey should be laid 
to heart. It is true, as one of the leading English 
journals has well expressed it, that a common sor- 
row unites the ocean-sundered members of the 
English race to-day more closely than it has ever 
been since 1776, and that there is scarcely an 
Englishman in a thousand who did not read of 
President Garfield's death, with a regret as real 
and as deep as if he had been a ruler of their 
own." 



2G6 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Services at Elberon. — Journey to Washington. — Lying in 
State. — Queen Victoria's Offering. — Impressive Ceremonies in 
the Capitol Rotunda. 

Ox the morning of September twenty-first, the 
black-cloth casket, containing all that was mortal 
of President Garfield, was placed in the parlor of 
the Francklyn Cottage, at Long Branch ; and for 
one brief hour, a motley throng of city people and 
country folk were permitted to look upon the 
wasted form of one they had learned to regard as 
a personal friend. 

Brief religious services were read by Rev. C. J. 
Young of the Dutch Reformed Church at Long 
Branch, and then Mrs. Garfield and her daughter, 
followed by the members of the Cabinet, entered 
the waiting train ; the casket was placed in the 
funeral car, and slowly, sadly, amidst the solemn 
tolling of the bells, the heavily draped train left 
the Elberon station. At Princeton Junction, three 
hundred students with uncovered heads stood on 
either side the track, and scattered choice floA\ers 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 267 

beside the train for more than a hundred yards. 
Bells were tolled in all the towns and villages 
through which the funeral party passed, and a 
reverent stillness prevaded the waiting throngs at 
the various stations on the way. 

At four, P. M., the train reached Washington, 
and the casket was borne at once to the Capitol. 

All night long the remains of the martyred 
President remained exposed to view, and without 
cessation the stream of visitors passed through the 
rotunda. At an early hour in the morning the 
throng at the east front of the Capitol began to in- 
crease, and at eight o'clock fully five thousand peo- 
ple were patiently and quietly waiting in two lines. 
From that hour the crowd constantly increased, 
and at eleven o'clock there was a dense mass of 
people in front of the main steps on the east front, 
extending for two squares up East Capitol Street. 
People from the outlying country flocked to the 
city, while every incoming train upon the several 
railroads was heavily freighted with those who had 
come to testify their profound sorrow at the na- 
tion's bereavement. 

Queen Victoria had telegraphed to the British 
minister to have a floral tribute prepared and pre- 
sented in her name. It was placed at the bier of 
the President. It was very large, and was an 
exquisite specimen of the florist's art, composed 
of white roses, smilax and stephanotis. It was 



268 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

accompanied by a mourning card bearing the fol- 
lowing inscription : — 

" Queen Victoria to the memory of the late President 
Garfield. An expression of her sorrow and sympathy with 
Mrs. Garfield and the American nation. 

" Sept. 22, 1881," 

By half-past one, P. M., on Friday, the 23d, 
arrangements for the funeral ceremonies in the ro- 
tunda were all completed and the chairs and sofas 
labelled to designate for whom they were reserved. 
The positions of the floral offerings were changed, 
and now nothing remained upon the casket save a 
few branches of palm. At the head of the catafalque 
stood a broken column of white and purple flowers, 
surmounted by a white dove. On either side of this 
were tastefully arranged a crown and a pyramid 
of roses. At the foot, and resting' against the 
black drapery, was the wreath which by order of 
the queen was the day before placed upon the cas- 
ket. Arranged on each side of this offering from 
the queen were handsome crosses, while at their 
base was placed a magnificent floral pillow on 
which was inscribed in violets "Our Martyr Pres- 
ident." Next to this was placed "The Gates Ajar," 
which attracted so much admiration the day before. 
The Knights of Malta contributed a large Maltese 
cross, and the Union Veteran corps of which Gen- 
eral Garfield was a member, a pillow of white 
flowers bearing in violet letters the inscription, 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 269 

" U. V. C. , to their comrade." The whole appear- 
ance of the catafalque was tasteful and elegant. 
In front of the chairs which were placed on the 
south side of the casket were arranged sofas for 
the accommodation of Mrs. Garfield and the family 
of the late President. Directly opposite and on the 
north side of the catafalque seats were reserved 
for the members of the cabinet and distinguished 
guests. The front row of chairs in the northwest- 
ern section of the rotunda were placed at the dis- 
posal of the justices of the Supreme Court, while 
in the rear of these several rows were selected for 
the accommodation of senators. The representa- 
tives occupied seats on the southeastern and south- 
western sections. Behind these q, row of chairs 
were reserved for the representatives of the press, 
and the remainder of the seats in that section were 
given to the public generally. 

At exactly quarter to two o'clock the doors of the 
rotunda were opened. The first society to arrive 
was the Knights Templars, Beausant Commandery 
of Baltimore. They entered in full regalia, but 
did not remain in the hall, simply passing around 
the catafalque in double file; Four of their num- 
ber — Sir Knights Stevens, Lawton, Butler and 
Jennings — bore a floral offering in the shape of 
an immense Maltese cross, which was reverently 
placed at the head of the dais. At ten minutes 
past two the army of the Cumberland filed in by 



270 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the door leading from the senate chamber, and 
took the scats reserved for them. Immediately 
after the doors were thrown open to all holders of 
"tickets. 

In ten minutes the chairs set apart for the gen- 
eral public were completely tilled. Soon the 
members of the diplomatic corps arrived, and 
were ushered to the seats reserved for them. 

Services were opened by Rev. Dr. Powers 
promptly at three o'clock. He ascended the dais 
and briefly announced the opening hymn, "Asleep 
in Jesus, blessed sleep," which was rendered by 
a choir of fifty voices. 

Rev. Dr. Rankin then ascended the raised plat- 
form at the head of the catafalque, and read in a 
clear, distinct voice the scriptural selections. Rev. 
Dr. Isaac Errett then offered prayer. 

Immediately after the close of the services the 
floral decorations were all removed (Mrs. Garfield 
having requested that they be sent to her home at 
Mentor) except the beautiful wreath, the gift of 
Queen Victoria, which had been placed upon the 
head of the coffin when the lid was closed, and 
which remained there when the coffin was borne to 
the hearse, and will be upon it till the remains are 
buried. This touching tribute of Queen Victoria 
greatly moved Mrs. Garfield, as only a woman can 
feel a woman's sympathy at the time of her great- 
est earthly sorrow. 



JAMES A. GARFIP:LD. 



271 



The coffin having been placed in the hearse, a 
single gun was fired from Hanneman's battery, 
the Second Artillery Band struck up a funeral 
march, and the procession moved around the south 
front of the Capitol to the avenue. At least 
40,000 people were gathered about the Capitol to 
witness the start of the procession, while along the 
line of march to Sixth Street the crowd was even 
greater than on the 4th of March. Everywhere 
it was most orderly and quiet ; and as the hearse 
containing the remains moved along the avenue, 
from the very door of the Capitol to the entrance 
of the depot, all heads were uncovered. 

On reaching the depot the military were drawn 
up in line upon the opposite side of the street, 
fating the Sixth Street entrance. The remains 
were borne from the hearse upon the shoulders of 
six soldiers of the Second Artillery and placed in 
the funeral car. The ten officers from the army 
and navy, selected as the guard of honor, stood 
with uncovered heads as the remains were taken 
from the hearse, and then escorted them to the 
car. The diplomatic corps and others who were 
not going upon either of the trains did not alight 
from their carriages. President Arthur entered 
the depot with Secretary Blaine, and a few min- 
utes after entered the Secretary's carriage, and 
with Ex-President Grant was driven up the avenue 
to his temporary home at the residence of Senator 



272 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Jones of Nevada. To avoid the crowd about the 
depot, Mrs. Garfield was taken to the corner of 
Maine Avenue and Sixth Street, and an engine 
and two cars, including the one intended for her 
use, were run down the track, and she was taken 
on board the train without attracting any attention. 
The funeral train was the same used on the trip 
from Long Branch, with two additional cars. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 273 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Journey to Cleveland. — Lying in State in the Catafalque in the 
Park. — Immense Concourse. — Funeral Ceremonies. — Favorite 
Hymn. — At the Cemetery. 

The sad journey to Cleveland was marked at 
every station by touching tributes of affection. 

After lying in state Saturday and Sunday in the 
catafalque in the park at Cleveland, the remains of 
President Garfield were solemnly committed to 
the tomb at Lake View Cemetery with solemn and 
impressive rites, the occasion fittingly reflecting 
the great sorrow under which the nation lies. 

The heat of Sunday and Monday was intense, but 
until the closing of the park gates in the forenoon 
previous to the beginning of the funeral service, 
the stream of people passing through the catafalque, 
to view the casket enclosing the remains, was con- 
tinuous, and the number who so paid their last 
respects must have aggregated at least 150,000. 

Promptly at half-past ten o'clock the ceremo- 
nies at the pavilion began. The immediate mem- 
bers of the family, and near relatives and friends, 
took seats about the casket, and at each corner 
was stationed a member of the Cleveland Grays. 
Dr. J. P. Robinson, president of the ceremonies, 



274 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

announced that the exercises would be opened 
by the singing, by the Cleveland Vocal Society, 
of the "Funeral Hymn," by Beethoven, where- 
upon the hymn was sung as follows : — 

" Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, 

Since God is thy ransom, thy guardian, and guide, 

The Saviour has passed through its portals before thee, 

And Death has no sting since the sinless hath died." 

The scripture selections were then read by 
Eight Rev. Bishop Bedell of the Episcopal Dio- 
cese of Ohio. 

Rev. Ross C. Houghton, pastor of the First 
Methodist-Episcopal Church, then offered prayer. 
After which the Vocal Society sang as follows : — 

" To thee, O Lord I yield my spirit, 

Who breaks in love this mortal chain ; 

My life I but from thee inherit, 

And death becomes my chiefest gain. 

In thee I live, in thee I die, 

Content, for thou art ever nigh." 

Rev. Isaac Errett of Cincinnati then delivered 
an eloquent address, taking for his text the follow- 
ing : "And the archers shot King Josiah, and the 
king said to his servants, ' Have me away, for I 
am sore wounded.' His servants therefore took 
him out of that chariot and put him m the second 
chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jeru- 
salem, and he died and was buried in one of the 




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JAMES A. GARFIELD. 275 

sepulchres of his fathers, and all Judah and Jeru- 
salem mourned for Josiah, and Jeremiah lamented 
for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing 
women spoke of Josiah in their lamentation to this 
day, and made them an ordinance in Israel, and 
behold they are written in the Lamentations. 
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good- 
ness, according to that which was written in the 
law of the Lord, and his deeds, first and last, be- 
hold, they are written in the book of the Kings of 
Israel and Judah. For behold the Lord, the Lord 
of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and 
from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay 
of bread and the whole stay of water. The 
mighty man, and the man of war, and the prophet, 
and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of 
fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, 
and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 
The voice said e Cry,' and he said ? What shall I 
cry?' All flesh is grass, and all the godliness 
thereof is as the flower of the field. The crass 
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of 
the Lord boweth upon it. Surely the people is 
grass ; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but 
the word of our God shall stand forever." 

Dr. Errett was listened to with close and ear- 
nest attention. He spoke for forty minutes, and 
when he closed a hush for a moment hung over 
the vast audience. 



276 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Rev. Jabez Hall then read President Garfield's 
favorite hymn, — 

" Ho ! reapers of life's harvest, 

Why stand with rusted blade 
Until the night draws round ye, 

And day begins to fade ? 
Why stand ye idle waiting 

For reapers more to come ? 
The golden morn is passing : 

Why sit ye idle, dumb ? 

Thrust in your sharpened sickle, 

And gather in the grain : 
The night is fast approaching, 

And soon will come again, 
The master calls for reapers ; 

And shall he call in vain ? 
Shall sheaves lie there ungathered, 

And waste upon the plain ? 

Mount up the heights of wisdom, 

And crush each error low ; 
Keep back no words of knowledge 

That human hearts should know. 
Be faithful to thy mission, 

In service of thy Lord, 
And then a golden chaplet 

Shall be thy just reward." 

At 11.45, Rev. Dr. James S. Pomeroy delivered 
the final prayer, and pronounced the closing bene- 
diction. / *~ 

A few minutes after the benediction had been 
pronounced, the casket was lifted reverently from 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 277 

its resting-place, and borne on the shoulders of the 
United States artillery sergeants who have acted 
as its special bearers from Long Branch to the 
funeral car. The funeral procession moved from 
Monumental Park at 11.55. The military pre- 
sented a magnificent appearance. The column 
was headed by that veteran volunteer association, 
the Boston Fusi leers, who had travelled from 
Massachusetts in order to pay a last tribute to 
their deceased comrade by participating in the 
obsequies. They were followed by two companies 
of the Seventy-Fourth New York, the Buffalo 
Cadets and the Buffalo City Guards ; next came 
the United States barracks band of Columbus, 
followed by the Governor's Guard, the Toledo 
Cadets, the District Infantry, the Washington 
Infantry of Pittsburg, the Gatling Gun and Cleve- 
land Light Artillery ; then followed all the civic 
and military organizations, in the order of march 
already published, excepting that the Columbia 
Commandery of Knights Templars of Washing- 
ton marched with the guard of honor and pall- 
bearers in the division having charge of the 
funeral car. 

Euclid avenue, for its six miles of length, 
seemed literally shrouded with mourning emblems, 
and an immense concourse numbering hundreds of 
thousands watched the slow progress of the pro- 
cession. 



278 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

At 3.30 o'clock the procession entered the gate- 
way, which was arched over with black, with 
appropriate inscriptions. In the key-stone were 
the words, "Come to rest." On one side were the 
words, " Lay him to rest whom we have learned to 
love." On the other, "Lay him to rest whom Ave 
have learned to trust." A massive cross of ever- 
green swung from the centre of the arch. The 
United States Marine Band, continuing the sweet, 
mournful strain it had kept up during the entire 
march, entered first. Then came the Forest City 
Troop, of Cleveland, which was the escort of the 
President to his inauguration. Behind it came the 
funeral car, with its escort of twelve L T nited States 
artillerymen, followed by a battalion of Knights 
Templars and the Cleveland Grays. The mourn- 
ers' carriages and those containing the guard of 
honor, comprised all of the procession that entered 
the grounds. The cavalry halted at the vault and 
drew up in line facing it, with sabres presented. 
The car drew up in front, with the mourners' 
carriages and those of the cabinet behind. The 
band played "Nearer, my God, to Thee," as the 
military escort lifted the coffin from the car and 
carried it into the vault, the local committee of 
reception, Secretary Blaine, Marshal Henry, and 
one or two personal friends, standing at either side 
of the entrance. 

None of the President's family except two of 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 279 

the boys, left the carriages during the exercises, 
which occupied less than half an hour. 

Dr. J. P. Robinson, as president of the day, 
opened the exercises by introducing Rev. J. H. 
Jones, Chaplain of the Forty-Second Ohio Regi- 
ment, which General Garfield commanded, who 
made a short address. 

After an ode by Horace, sung in Latin by the 
German Singing Society, Mr. Robinson announced 
the late President's favorite hymn, "Ho ! Reapers 
of Life's Harvest," which the German vocal 
societies of Cleveland sang with marked effect. 
The exercises closed with the benediction by 
President Hinsdale, of Hiram College. 

Re-enterino' their carriages the mourners drove 
huriiedly back to the city, to avoid another 
shower which was threatened. The Military and 
Masonic escort left the cemetery in the same order 
in which they entered, and kept in line until the 
catafalque was reached, where they were dis- 
missed. 



280 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 

Lakeview Cemetery. — Talk with Garfield's Mother. — First Church 
where he Preached. — His Religions Experience. — Garfield as a 
Preacher. 

The lot in Lakeview Cemetery that was selected 
for the burial-place is on the brow of a high 
ridije commanding an extensive view of Lake 
Erie. It was the President's desire that his last 
resting-place might be in this beautiful spot, and 
his mother, speaking of it, said, — 

" It is proper that he should be buried in Cleve- 
land. It is the capital of the county in which he 
was born, and of the section where he grew into 
prominence. Mentor had been his home but a 
short time, although he had intended to spend 
the balance of his life there. Most of his years 
have been spent in Solon and Orange, and it 
seems best that his final resting-place should be 
near the places that he loved the best." 

The brave old lady trembled with emotion 
while talking of her son. 

"It is wonderful," she said, "how I live upon 
the thoughts of him. I ride a little every day to 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 281 

get the fresh air, and look at the fields and woods 
he loved so well." 

Mrs. Garfield was with her daughter, Mrs. 
Larrabee, in Solon, Ohio, when the last sad tidings 
came. For days she had been greatly depressed 
— her hopes of his recovery growing fainter with 
every telegram received. 

" Oh ! it is too dreadful ! it cannot be true ! " 
she exclaimed, when the sad news was gently 
broken to her. It was some time before she 
could control her feelings. At last she murmured 
through her tears : " God knew best, but it is 
very hard to bear ! " 

A few days later, when a friend called to see 
her, she said, — 

" He was the best son a mother ever had — so 
good, kind, generous and brave. Did you ever 
see such an uprising? That ought to break the 
fall for me, but it doesn't seem to. I want my 
boy." 

This little home at Solon is not far from the 
spot where the old log cabin stood, and the first 
frame house was built. 

"I am glad you have been over to the old 
homestead," added the old lady to her visitor. 
" My son loved every foot of it. He and his 
brother built the frame house for me, near the well 
where the pole has been erected. It was rude car- 
pentry, but they both took their first lessons on it, 



282 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and I always loved the old home. It was burned 
down just after we left it." 

The humble Church of the Disciples, where 
Garfield first preached, is close by. Once, when 
addressing some young people, he spoke as 
follows of his first religious experience , — 

" Make the most of the present moment ! ~No 
occasion is unworthy of your best efforts. God in 
his providence often uses humble occasions and 
little things to shape the whole course of a man's 
life. I might say that the wearing of a certain 
pair of stockings led to a complete change in my 
own career. I had made one trip as a boy on a 
canal-boat, and was expecting to leave home for 
another trip. But I accidentally injured my foot 
in chopping wood. The blue dye in the yarn of 
my home-made socks poisoned the wound, and I 
was kept at home. Then a revival of religion 
broke out in the neighborhood. I was thus kept 
within its influence, and was converted. New 
desires and purposes then took possession of me, 
and I determined to seek an education that I 
might live more usefully for Christ. You can 
never know when these providential turning-points 
in your life are at hand ; so seek to improve each 
passing day." With this we may connect the 
account of his conversion given by his friend, Rev. 
Isaac Errett, D. D., of Cincinnati. "The lad," 
he says, "attended these meetings for several 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



283 



nights, and after listening night after night to the 
sermon, he went one day to the minister, and said 
to him: 'Sir, I have been listening to your 
preaching night after night, and I am fully per- 
suaded that if these things you say are true, it is 
the duty and the highest interest of every man, 
and especially of every young man, to accept that 
religion and seek to be a man ; but really I do not 
know whether this thing is true or not. If I were 
sure it were true, I would most gladly give it my 
heart and my life.' So, after a long talk, the 
minister preached that night on the text, ' What 
is truth? 1 and proceeded to show that, notwith- 
standing all the various and conflicting theories 
and opinions of men, there was one assured and 
eternal alliance for every human soul in Christ 
Jesus as the Way and the Truth and the Life; 
that every soul would be safe with him ; that he 
never would mislead ; and that any young man 
giving him his hand and heart would not go 
astray. After due reflection, young Garfield 
seized upon this. He came forward and gave his 
hand to the minister in pledge of the acceptance of 
the guidance of Christ for his life, and turned his 
back upon the sins of the world forever." 

"He was never formally ordained," says one of 
his old pupils at Hiram Institute, "hence some have 
inferred that his preaching was confined to occa- 
sional and unofficial discourses. But while he was 



284 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

a student in Williams College he supplied in 
vacations and at other times the pulpit of the 
Disciples' church at Poestenkill, a few miles from 
Williamstown. For this he received some com- 
pensation which assisted him in his course. He 
had the ministry in view. Becoming Principal at 
Hiram, he also accepted the position of regular 
pastor of the church of Disciples in that town. 
This office he filled during a large part of his 
Principalship, bearing its responsibilities and re- 
ceiving what compensation attached to it. It was 
a large village church, and the only one in the 
place, except a small Methodist church. He was 
called from year to year. The people loved him 
as flieir pastor, and the house was crowded to hear 
him preach. He officiated at their funerals, and 
administered the ordinances of baptism (which was 
always immersion) and the Lord's Supper. The 
fact that he had not been ordained in due form was 
not objectionable to the Disciples, and a matter of 
greater indifference even among them at that time 
than it would be perhaps to-day. Doubtless his 
appointment as Principal of their Institute was re- 
garded as equivalent to a sanction of his full minis- 
try. He preached Sunday morning and afternoon, 
and administered the communion every Sunday. 
In the evening there was a prayer-meeting. The 
students were required to be present at church at 
least twice in the day. He always preached with- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 285 

out notes, with great simplicity and practicalness, 
interesting persons of mature years, and at the same 
time taking special pains to reach the young. 
There was a bright little boy with whom he was 
accustomed to talk after preaching, to make sure 
that he had been understood. In prayer he im- 
pressed his congregation as a man who was really 
speaking with God. On Saturday afternoons he 
visited socially among the people. 

In 1857 his preaching was accompanied by a 
revival of religion. Meetings were held nearly 
every night, and fifty-two united at one time with 
the church. These Mr. Garfield baptized in the 
open air. Many of the converts were students, 
and when he gave them the hand of fellowship at 
the communion table he presented each one of 
them with a copy of the Word of God. This was 
not the only time he led candidates into baptismal 
waters. There were frequent occasions of this 
kind. One is remembered which took place in the 
evening in the fall of the year, when the moon- 
light was bright enough for the singers to read the 
music and the hymns. He entered into the spirit 
of such scenes with great devotion and zeal. 

Garfield always held to that side which empha- 
sized man's need of the Holy Spirit, and the 
necessity of believing in Christ from the heart. 
This he always enforced in his preaching, and as 
urgently declared that this faith must be followed 



286 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

by obedience. His public prayers were often 
addressed to Christ. Our informant feels sure 
that he was far from being a Unitarian. He was 
not pleased with the way in which Garfield, in 
accordance with the usages of the Disciples, re- 
ceived candidates for baptism, and one day said to 
him : " It seems to me that your practice, Mr. Gar- 
field, is hardly consistent with your doctrine in 
this matter. You preach excellent sermons to the 
impenitent, and point out the way of salvation in 
language which I can endorse ; but when persons 
come forward for baptism, you have no examination 
by the church to see if their conversion is sound." 
The answer was : " I show them clearly that they 
must believe from the heart. If they say they do, 
I leave the responsibility with them." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 287 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Sunday Preceding the Burial. —The Crowded Churches.— The 
one Theme that Absorbed all Hearts. — Across the Water. — At 
Alexandra Palace. — At St. Paul's Cathedral. —At Westminster 
Abbey. — Paris. — Berlin. — Extract from London Times. 

On the Sunday that the remains of the mar- 
tyred President were lying in state at Cleveland, 
the churches throughout the country were crowded 
with conoTeo-ations in sober and reverent mood. 
One thought engrossed all minds, and one topic 
alone occupied the preacher's desk. 

"It was most touching," said one writer, "to see 
with what sympathy and sadness every apprecia- 
tive tribute to the dead President was received ; 
to perceive by a thousand little indications how 
profoundly this great event absorbing all thoughts 
had stirred the hearts of the people ; to detect the 
unbidden tears stealing down the cheeks of so 
many women, aye, and of men too. The minis- 
ters felt the inspiration of the occasion, and were 
uplifted by it to greater than ordinary eloquence, 
to more tender and more hearty words." 

Not only in America but throughout Europe the 



288 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

mourning crowds were gathered to offer their 
tributes of respect. At the Alexandra Palace, in 
London, a memorial service was held, at which 
forty thousand persons were present, many of 
them in deep mourning. 

St. Paul's Cathedral was crowded to overflow- 
ing at the announcement that the services would 
relate to the death of President Garfield. When 
the "Dead March in Saul" was played the whole 
congregation, numbering many thousands, arose 
and remained standing, all showing grief and 
many weeping. Canon Stubbs preached, and 
specially referred to the cruel manner of Presi- 
dent Garfield's death. He extolled his life and 
virtues, and expressed sympathy for the sorrowing 
American nation. 

The following sonnet was written in the Cathe- 
dral just after the funeral anthem for President 
Garfield had been sung, — 

Septemder 25. 

Through tears to look upon a tearful crowd, 
And hear the anthem echoing 
High in the dome till angels seem to fling 

The chant of England up through vault and cloud, 

Making ethereal register aloud 

At heaven's own gate. It was a sorrowing 
To make a good man's death seem such a thing 

As makes imperial purple of his shroud. 

Some creeds there be like runes we cannot spell, 
And some like stars that flicker in their flame ; 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 289 

But some so clear the sun scarce shines so well ; 

For when with Moses' touch a dead man's name 
Finds tears within strange rocks as this name can, 
We know right well that God was with the man. 

At both the morning and evening services in 
Westminster Abbey reference was made to Presi- 
dent Garfield's death. At the afternoon service 
Canon Duckworth said the American people were 
richer in all that could dignify national life by 
President Garfield's death. Had the shattered 
frame revived, it would be hard to believe that he 
could have impressed his greatness more effec- 
tually. At St. Margaret's, AYestminster, the Kev. 
Mr. Roberts described the assassination as a crime 
against the wdiole English humanity. At all the 
principal churches of all denominations Garfield's 
death formed the subject of sympathetic allusion. 

In Paris, Pere Hyacinthe held a memorial ser- 
vice, and at Berlin, one of the Emperor's chaplains 
spoke at length upon the martyred President. 

The London Times, summing up the events of 
.the week, said : " Such a spectacle has never 
before been presented as the mourning with wdiich 
the whole civilized world is honoring the late 
President Garfield. Emperors and kings, Senates 
and ministers, are, in spirit, his pall-bearers, but 
their peoples, from the highest to the lowest, claim 
to be equally visible and audible as sorrowing 
assistants." 



290 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTEE XL. 

National Day of Mourning. — Draping of Public Buildings and Private 
Residences. — Touching Incident. — Tributes to Garfield. — Senator 
Hoar's Address. — Whittier's Letter. — Senator [Dawes' Remarks. 

Monday, September 26th, the day when the 
funeral rites were celebrated at Cleveland, was ap- 
pointed by President Arthur as a national day ol 
mourning. The public buildings throughout the 
country and many private residences were draped 
with mourning, while beautiful and appropriate 
emblems of the nation's sorrow were seen in almost 
every window. \ A touching incident is told of a 
poor colored washerwoman at Long Branch who 
tore up her one Sunday gown, a cheap black ging- 
ham, and hung it about her door. When remon- 
strated with, she said, quietly, — 

"He was my President, too." It would take 
volumes to give any adequate collection of the 
many beautiful tributes to Garfield delivered in 
the pulpit, from the forum, and through the public 
press, but from them we select a few. 

At Mechanic's Hall in Worcester, Senator 
George F. Hoar spoke as follows : " I suppose at 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 291 

this single hour there is deeper grief over the civ- 
ilized world than at any other single hour in its 
history. Heroes, and statesmen, and monarchs, 
and orators, and warriors, and great benefactors of 
the race, have died and been buried. There have 
been men like William the Silent and his kinsmen 
of England, and men like Lincoln, whose death 
generations unborn will lament with a sense as of 
personal bereavement. But in the past the knowl- 
edge of great events and great characters made its 
way slowly to the minds of men. The press and 
the telegraph have this summer assembled all 
Christendom morning and evening at the door of 
one sick-chamber. The gentle and wise Lincoln 
had to overcome the hatred and bitterness of a 
great civil war. It was the fortune of President 
Garfield, as it was never the fortune of any other 
man, that his whole life has been unrolled as a 
scroll to be read of all men. The recent election 
had made us familiar with that story of the child- 
hood in the log cabin, of the boyhood on the canal 
boat, of the precious school time, of the college 
days at the feet of our saintly Hopkins, of the 
school-teacher, of the marriage to the bright and 
beautiful schoolmate, of the Christian preacher, 
of the soldier saving the army at Chickamauga, of 
the statesman leading in great debates in Congress, 
and of the orator persuading the conscience and 
judgment of Ohio, and, througli her, saving the 



292 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE 

nation's honor and credit in the great strife for 
public honesty, of the judge determining the great 
issue of the title to the presidency, of the loved 
and trusted popular leader, to whom was offered 
the choice of three great offices, Representative, 
Senator, and President at once. We know it all by 
heart, as we know the achievements of the brief 
and brilliant administration of the presidential of- 
fice and the heroic patience and cheer of that long 
dying struggle, when every sigh of agony was ut- 
tered in a telephone at which all mankind were 
listening. No wonder the heart burst at last. 
While it was throbbing and pulsing with fever 
and pain, it furnished the courage which held up 
for seventy-nine days the sinking hopes of a world. 
This man touched the common life of humanity, 
touched its lowliness, touched its greatness, at so 
many points. His roots were in New England 
puritanism, were in the yeomanry of Worcester 
and Middlesex. He grew up to manhood in 
Ohio. The South had learned to know him. Her 
soldiers had met him in battle. When he died 
she was making ready to clasp the hand he was 
holding out to her returning loyalty. The child 
in the log cabin knows all about the childhood so 
like his own. Scholarship mourns the scholar 
who was struck down when he was hastening to 
lay his untarnished laurel at the feet of his col- 
lege. Every mother's heart in America stirred 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2C3 

within her when the first act of the new President 
was to pay homage to his own mother. The sol- 
diers and sailors of England, the veterans of Tra- 
falgar and Waterloo, join his own comrades in 
mourning for a hero whom they deemed worthy to 
be ranked with the heroes who held out the live- 
long day with Wellington, or who obeyed Nelson's 
immortal signal. The laborer misses a brother 
who has known all the bitterness of poverty and 
the sweetness of bread earned by the sweat of his 
brow. The Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, 
Empress of India, and sovereign of Cyprus and 
Malta and Gibraltar and Canada and Jamaica, knew 
her peer when she laid her wreath, last Friday, on 
the coffin of a king. The last we heard of him in 
health he was playing like a boy with his boy. 
As our friend said in the pulpit yesterday, the 
saints of mankind, when they saw him, knew the 
birthmark of their race, and bowed their heads. 
The American people have anointed him as the 
representative of their sovereignty. Washington 
and Lincoln came forward to greet him and wel- 
come him to a seat beside their own. I say there 
is deeper grief at this hour over the civilized world 
than at any other single hour in history. It seems 
to me that the death of President Garfield is the 
greatest single calamity this country ever suffered. 
I have no doubt there w r ere hundreds and hundreds 
of thousands of men who would gladly have bought 



294 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

his life with their own, but we shall dishonor our 
dead here if, even while his grave is open, we al- 
low ourselves to utter a cry of despair. It is true 
of nations, even more than of man, that "AVhom 
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourge th every 
son whom he receiveth." Our republic was plant- 
ed in sorrow. One-half of the pilgrims died at 
Plymouth the first winter, and yet not one of the 
original colony went back to England. Is there 
any man now who would they had not died, or 
wishes they had found summer and plenty and 
ease on the coast of Massachusetts?' Could we 
celebrate Yorktown with the same lofty triumph 
without the memories of Valley Forge and the death 
of Hale and Warren ? I think even the widow who 
goes mourning all her days will hardly wish now that 
our regiments had come home from the war with 
full ranks. God has taken from us our beloved, 
but think what has been brought into this precious 
life. Fifty millions of people, of many races, of 
many climes, the workman, the farmer, the slave 
just made free, met together to choose the man 
whom they could call to the presidency among 
mankind. God took him in his first hour of 
triumph and stretched him for seventy-nine days 
upon a ra.sk. He turned in upon that sick-cham- 
ber a Drummond light that all mankind might look 
in upon that cruel assay, and see what manner of 
men and what manner of women Freedom calls to 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 295 

her high places. He revealed to them courage, 
constancy, cheerfulness, woman's love, faith in 
God, submission to his will. Into what years of 
Europe, into what cycles of Cathay were ever 
crowded so much of hope and cheer for humanity 
as into the tragedy of Elberon? Your prayers 
were not answered ; the bitter cup has not passed 
from you, but, so long as human hearts endure, 
humanity will be strengthened and comforted, be- 
cause you have drunk it. 

The following letter, from John G. Whittier, 
was read at the funeral services of President Gar- 
field, held in Amesbury : — 

Danvers, Mass., 9th Mo., 24, 1881. 
W. H. B. Currier. 

My Dear Friend, — I regret that it is not in my power to 
join the citizens of Amesbury and Salisbury in the memorial 
services on the occasion of the death of our lamented Presi- 
dent. But in heart and sympathy I am with you. I. share 
the great sorrow which overshadows the land; I fully 
appreciate the irretrievable loss. But it seems to me that 
the occasion is one for thankfulness as well as grief. 
Through all the stages of the solemn tragedy which has 
.just closed with the death of our noblest and best, I have 
felt that the Divine Providence was overruling the mighty 
affliction — that the patient sufferer at Washington was 
drawing with cords of sympathy all sections and parties 
nearer to each other. And now, when South and North, 
Democrat and Republican, Radical and Conservative, lift 
their voices in one unbroken accord of lamentation ; when I 
see how, in spite of the greed of gain, the lust of office, the 



296 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

strifes and meanness of party jjolitics, the great heart of the 
nation proves sound and loyal, I feel a new hope for the 
republic. I have a firmer faith in its stability. It is said 
that no man liveth and no man dieth to himself; and the 
pure and noble life of Garfield, and his slow, long martyrdom 
so bravely borne in the view of all, are, I believe, bearing 
for us, as a people, " the peaceable fruits of righteousness." 
We are stronger, wiser, better for them. 

With him it is well. His mission fulfilled, he goes to his 
grave by the lakeside, honored and lamented as man never 
was before. The whole world mourns him. There is no 
speech nor language where the voice of his praise is not 
heard. About his grave gathers, with heads uncovered, the 
vast brotherhood of man. 

And with us it is well also. We are nearer a united 
people than ever before. We are at peace with all; our 
future is full of promise ; our industrial and financial con- 
dition is hopeful. God grant that, while our material 
interests prosper, the moral and spiritual influence of this 
occasion may be permanently felt; that the solemn sacra- 
ment of sorrow whereof we have been partakers may be 
blest to the promotion of the " righteousness which exalts a 
nation." Thy friend, John G. Whittier. 

Said Senator Dawes : — 

"Garfield was indeed a great man. This will be 
the judgment of those who knew him personally 
and of history. This tragedy prevents the cor- 
roboration of that judgment by results ; for he 
had but just entered upon the work for which his 
preparation and development had fitted him and 
has finished nothing but a life of great promise 
and expectation. His growth has been a wonder- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 297 

fill study to those who were by his side during its 
progress . It was constant to the last moment. 
The last year had turned .it into an altogether new 
and untried channel. It had been begun and 
carried on until that time in quite a different direc- 
tion. He had never had executive experience, 
and a modesty and distrust, rare in minds con- 
scious of great power, led him to hesitate and 
shrink from what was before him. His first re- 
mark to a long-tried friend on taking his hand 
after the Chicago convention was this : 'I fear I 
am no man for this place ; I have felt that I could 
reasonably count on six years more of labor and 
study and growth in the new and larger opportu- 
nity already secured to me in my accustomed field, 
but this is an untried sphere to me, and I dread the 
experiment.' The short time he has been permit- 
ted, however, to labor in this new field has yet 
been long enough to bring out great qualities and 
high purposes that the nation can ill spare. He 
was conscious of great powers carefully trained, 
but he lacked confidence to take hold of new 
things. His mind did not work quickly, though 
it did surely. Always feeling the ground under 
every step he took, he never ventured his foot 
where he could not, by some process of reasoning, 
however slow, satisfy himself that he knew what 
was under him. Hence the man who was a great 
leader in battle, and of unflinching personal 



298 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

courage, and better fitted than any contemporary 

to demonstrate and defend a political principle, 
had not yet come to be a safe political leader in a 
sudden emergency, where there is no time for 
logic or processes of reasoning, but action must 
follow instinct and first impression. At such 
times he distrusted himself and left to others, 
with not a tithe of his real power, the guidance 
of political movements. As free from political as 
from personal guile, he was too confiding and 
open-hearted to be safe in the hands of men less 
scrupulous and less selfish. 

" Those who saw him enter public life, and were 
with him to the end, have in mind a wonderful 
growth, and have in admiration, also, a wonderful 
character, personal, mental and moral, ever charm- 
ing, sure to be instructive and always exemplary. 
In private intercourse with those he loved he 
was as simple and trusting as a child, as tender 
and affectionate as a woman, and as true and 
valiant as a knight. One of the most touch- 
ing scenes, illustrative of what manner of man 
he was, will never be forgotten. The great 
cares of state had well - nigh worn him out ; 
the wife of his love lav linorerinor between life 
and death, and he had been going from official 
labor and responsibility to her bedside night after 
night, and, for the last two, had scarcely closed 
his eyes. The report had gone out that Mrs. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 299 

Garfield was dying ; a near friend called to inquire. 
Coming out of the sick-room, and grasping his 
hand, the President besrged him to sit down, and 
there this greatest of all public men unbosomed 
himself like a broken-hearted woman. Dwelling 
with surprising tenderness upon the love and 
beauty of his married life, and the noble character 
of her who had made it what it was, he exclaimed, 
with great emotion, C I have had in this trial 
glimpses of a better and higher life beyond, which 
have made this life I am leading here seem utterly 
barren and worthless. Whatever may come of 
this peril, I fear that I shall never again have 
ambition or heart to go through with that to 
which I have been called.' To human view he 
has not been permitted to finish the work for 
which he was fitted and to which he aspired, but he 
has left valuable material for the study and in- 
struction of public men, covering a greater range 
of topics, a more thorough investigation, and 
sounder conclusions than have been left by any 
one so constantly active in the daily and current 
demands of public life. Let us thank God for 
such a life, of such infinite value to the republic. 
Its example, its teachings, ks ambitions, its lofty 
aspirations and high resolves, and its demonstra- 
tions of what man can make of himself, have no 
parallel in history, and will have no measure in 
their beneficent effect upon those who shall here- 



300 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

after honestly study them. He dies loved, ad- 
mired and mourned before all others, but not yet 
fully appreciated. His loss is irreparable, his les- 
son invaluable." 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 301 



CHAPTER XLI. 

Subscription Fund for the President's Family. — Ready Generosity of 
the People. — Touching Incident. — Total Amount of the Fund. — 
How the Money was Invested. — Project for Memorial Hospital in 
Washington. — Cyrus W. Field's Gift of Memorial Window to 
Williams College. — Garfield's Affection for his Alma Mater. — 
Reception given Mark Hopkins and the Williams Graduates. — 
Garfield's Address to his Classmates. 

Soon after the President's assassination, the New 
York Chamber of Commerce, headed by Cyrus 
W. Field and other leading capitalists, started a 
subscription for Mrs. Garfield and her children. 
To this fund all classes of the people contributed 
with a readiness and generosity that gave touching 
evidence of the sincerity of their love and sym- 
pathy. Little children sent their hoarded pennies, 
many a poor working woman denied herself some 
needed comfort that she might add her mite, and 
one old man, in tattered clothes, came into the 
office of Drexel & Co., where subscriptions were 
received, and putting a bottle of ink on the table, 
said, — 

" It's all I have, but I must do something." 

As soon as the story was told, the ink was taken 



,i 



302 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and sold again and again that day, until it brought 
in fifty dollars. 

When Mrs. Garfield was first apprised of this 
subscription fund, she said, — 

" I wish it were possible for me to go around 
and see all these dear people ! " 

After the President's death it was stated that 
the fund would close on the fifteenth day of Octo- 
ber. The total amount received was $360,345.74, 
and this was at once given over to the United 
States Trust Company, of New York, for in- 
vestment. The Company paid the amount of 
$348,968.75 for the purchase of $300,000 four per 
cent, registered bonds, and the balance of cash, 
$11,376. ( J9, was placed in charge of this same 
Trust Company. 

Among the numerous tributes to the memory of 
Garfield is a project for a national memorial hos- 
pital in Washington on the spot where the 
President was assassinated, and an organization 
has been formed to carry it into effect. The 
object has the sympathy and endorsement of Presi- 
dent Arthur, General Sherman, members of the 
Cabinet, and other distinguished and influential 
persons. The land on which the depot stands 
belongs to Government, it is said, and is held 
on sufferance by the railroad company. 

Cyrus W. Field is to place a memorial window 
in the chapel of Williams College. 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 303 

"Nothing," says one writer, "has more illus- 
trated the strong and tender affection which 
Garfield retained for the master at whose feet he 
learned the law of love, than the natural way in 
which he turned to Dr. Hopkins after his career 
had reached its flower. The first reception in the 
"White House was given to Mark Hopkins and the 
Williams graduates. It was the President's own 
planning. The alumni in Washington, resident 
and visitors, including a large number of the class 
of '56, were notified of the President's wishes, 
and went to the White House marshalled by the 
venerable doctor. They were drawn up in the 
form of a horseshoe, and Dr. Hopkins addressed 
the Chief Magistrate. The speaker was pro- 
foundly moved, and exhorted his pupil to maintain 
the high ideals which had marked his past. 
President Garfield, with wet eyes, replied in one 
of those moving and inspired speeches which he 
sometimes uttered. He voiced the deepest love 
and reverence for his old teacher, and ascribed the 
good impulse of his career to lessons learned 
among the hills of Berkshire. The forty or more 
alumni present were affected to tears." 

Garfield was greatly attached to his Alma Ma- 
ter ; on the night previous to his inauguration he 
met his college classmates, and, in an address to 
them, spoke as folio avs : 



304 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

"Classmates, — To me there is something ex- 
ceedingly pathetic in this reunion. In every eye 
before me I see the light of friendship and love, 
and I am sure it is reflected back to each one of 
you from my inmost heart. For twenty-two years, 
with the exception of the last few days, I have 
been in the public service. To-night I am a pri- 
vate citizen. To-morrow I shall be called to as- 
sume new responsibilities, and on the day after the 
broadside of the world's wrath will strike. It will 
strike hard. I know it and you will know it. 
Whatever may happen to me in the future, I shall 
feel that I can always fall back upon the shoulders 
and hearts of the class of '56 for their approval of 
that which is right and for their charitable judg- 
ment wherein I may come short in the discharge 
of my public duties. You may write down in 
your books now the largest percentage of blunders 
which you think I will be likely to make, and you 
will be sure to find in the end that I have made 
more than you have calculated — many more. 

"This honor comes to me unsought. I have 
never had the presidential fever, not even for a 
day; nor have I it to-night. I have no feeling 
of elation in view of the position I am called upon 
to fill. I would thank God were I to-day a free 
dance in the House or the Senate ; but it is not to 
be, and I will go forward to meet the responsibili- 
ties and discharge the duties that are before me 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 305 

with all the firmness and ability I can command. 
I hope you will be able conscientiously to approve 
my conduct, and when I return to private life I 
wic.h you to give me another class-meeting." 



il 



306 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XLII. 

Removal of the President's Remains. — Monument Fund Committee. 
— Garfield Memorial in Boston. — Extracts from Address by Hon. 
N. P. Banks. 

On the 22d of October, Garfield's remains were 
removed from the public vault in Lakeview Cem- 
etery to a private vault on the grounds, there to 
remain until the completion of the crypt, where 
they will permanently repose. 

A Garfield Monument Fund Committee was 
organized at Cleveland immediately after the fune- 
ral, and contributions have been received by it 
from all sections of the country. 

Upon Thursday, the 20th day of October, Me- 
morial services were held in Boston at Tremont 
Temple. From the address delivered by Hon. N. 
P. Banks we give the following extracts : — 

"The history of the Plymouth colony of 1620, 
which preceded the embarkation of the Massachu- 
setts colony, was blistered with the results of a 
bitter and apparently relentless destiny, against 
which it would have been scarcely possible for 
any people but the Massachusetts Puritans and 



JAMES A. GAHFIELD. 307 

Pilgrims to have secured a triumph like that 
which the Deity they worshipped vouchsafed to 
them. 

" Its founders were fugitives from England and 
exiles from Holland. They gladly accepted the 
chances of suffering and death in the New World, 
to gain liberty of conscience and freedom to wor- 
ship God. For the first ten years of its existence 
population increased slowly, and numbered but 
three hundred souls in 1630. 

"The Massachusetts colony, with which Ply- 
mouth was united, left the Old World under 
happier auspices. It started Avith concessions and 
congratulations from the Crown. The best men 
in England were ambitious to share its fortunes. 
Winthrop, Saltonstall and Sir Harry Vane — r the 
sad and starry Vane' — were among its leaders; 
and such men as John Hampden, Pym, Oliver 
Cromwell, and many others of that heroic type, 
were restrained from emigration at the moment 
of embarkation by the order of the king. Four 
thousand families — twenty thousand souls — 
people of culture, capacity and character, no de- 
cayed courtiers or adventurers, but merchants, 
seamen, husbandmen and others devoted to the 
highest interests of man, had landed in Boston in 
ten years from the foundation of the city. 

"Among them came, in 1630, Edward Garfield, 
the paternal ancestor of the late President of the 



308 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

United States. He was a man of gentle blood, of 
military instincts and training, possessing some 
property, and a thoughtful and vigorous habit of 
mind and body. The earliest record of his name 
in the annals of the colony indicated an origin 
from some one of the great German families of 
Europe, and his alliance by marriage with a lady 
of that blood and birth confirmed the original im- 
pression of the people with whom he identified 
his fortunes. His emigration suggested a purpose 
consistent with his capacity and character, and 
with the higher aspirations of the colony. He 
coveted possession of land, and for that reason 
probably, among others, settled in Watertown, 
where territory was abundant, and boundary lines 
yet delicate and dim, especially toward the west, 
where they were mainly defined by the receding 
and vanishing forms of the aboriginal inhabitants 
of the country. In the realm they had abandoned 
it w T as a maxim among men that home was where 
the heart was. But in the New World the colon 
ists had discovered that both home and heart were 
where there were liberty and land. 

rt He chose a residence near Charles River, a 
stream unsurpassed in beauty by any water that 
flows, since honored by the residence and immor- 
talized by the verse of Longfellow, and the original 
and marvellous industries that enrich its peaceful 
and prosperous people. 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 309 

"Edward Garfield, the founder of this new 
American family, did not long linger near the 
boundaries of Boston. His first share in the 
distribution of land to the freemen, by the town, 
was a small lot or homestall of six acres, on the 
line of territory afterwards incorporated as the 
town of Waltham. Another general grant of land 
by the town, in 1636, f to the freemen and all the 
townsmen then inhabiting,' one hundred and 
twenty in number, called the Great Dividends, 
gave to Garfield a tract of thirty acres, the whole 
of which was within the territory set off to Wal- 
tham. In 1650 the land allotted to Mr. Phillips, 
the first minister of Watertown (about forty acres, 
in the same locality), was sold by his heirs to 
Garfield and his sons. A portion of this estate 
was purchased from the heirs of Garfield by 
Governor Gore, who constructed upon it, from 
imported plans and materials, on his return from 
England, a country seat, still admired as one of 
the most elegant and stately residences in America. 
The first distinctive title eve;- given to the terri- 
tory now embraced within the limits of Waltham 
was that of 'The Precinct of Captain Garfield's 
Company.' It is said that, after the incorporation 
of that town, this name rarely appears on the 
records of Watertown. 

"While citizens of Watertown, Garfield and his 
descendants w r ere assigned to responsible military 



310 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

commands by the governors of the colony, and 
frequently chosen for the board of selectmen and 
other town offices. Captain Benjamin Garfield 
held a captain's commission from the governor, 
was nine times elected representative of the town, 
and appointed to many other offices. Others were 
honored in a similar manner in Watertown, in 
Waltham, and wherever they planted themselves. 

" They did not hive in the settled and safe centres 
of the colony, but struck out boldly for the fron- 
tier, where danger was to be encountered and 
duty performed. They adhered zealously to the 
principles of the colony, and the controversies 
that arose from considerations of that nature, at 
the very outset of its history, settled upon an 
unchangeable basis the character of its govern- 
ment. 

" An important and instructive illustration of this 
free spirit of the people occurred in the second 
year of its settlement. Without previous consul- 
tation of the several towns, the governor and 
assistants levied, in 1632, an assessment of eight 
pounds sterling upon them for construction of 
military defences in what is now Cambridge. 
This order was declared to be subversive of their 
rights, and the people of Watertown, the most 
populous and influential inland town, met in 
church, with their pastor and elders, according to 
their custom, and after much debate deliberately 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 311 

refused to pay the money, on the ground, they 
said, 'that it was not safe to pay monies after that 
sort, for fear of bringing themselves and their pos- 
terity into bondage.' 

" When summoned before the governor they were 
obliged to retract the declaration and submit ; but 
they set on foot such an agitation through the 
colony as to secure, within three months of their 
original debate, an order for the appointment of 
two persons from each town to advise with the 
governor and assistants as to the best method of 
raising public moneys. This order ripened, in 
1634, into the creation of a representative body 
of deputies elected by the people, having full 
power to act for all freemen, except in elections. 
This was the origin of the House of Representa- 
tives in Massachusetts. After ten years' contest 
the body of assistants to the governor was sepa- 
rated from the body of deputies, and, sitting as a 
Senate, left to the deputies chosen by the towns 
an absolute negative upon the legislation of the 
colony. Thus was established, substantially as it 
now exists, the Legislature of Massachusetts. 

" As the people began to be represented in the 
government of the colony, so the direction of civil 
affairs in the towns came to be entrusted to a 
municipal body of freemen, peculiar to New Eng- 
land, chosen for that purpose, and known as the 
board of selectmen. It is a pleasure to know 



312 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

that, during the violent contest for this right of 
representation in State and local governments, 
Edward Garfield, the earliest American ancestor 
of the martyr President whose loss we mourn, as 
a selectman of Watertown, in the very crisis of 
that contest, did a freeman's duty with a freeman's 
will, in securing to the people of Massachusetts the 
right of representation they now enjoy. 

"The Massachusetts family of Gartields, in the 
male line at least, were churchmen, freemen, fight- 
ing men, thoughtful and thrifty men, and working- 
men. They were enterprising, active, and brave, 
fond of adventure, distinguished for endurance 
and strength, athletic feats, sallies of wit, cheerful 
dispositions, and, like their eminent successor so 
recently passed away, noted always for a manly 
spirit and a commanding person and presence. 
It was a prolific and long-lived race. Marriages 
were at a premium, and families were large and 
numerous. Among the people of the Massachu- 
setts colony who made their way quickly to the 
frontier when new towns were to be planted, 
the Garfields were well represented. The founda- 
tion of a new municipality was then a solemn 
affair, usually preceded by f a day of humiliation, 
and a sermon by Mr. Cotton.' When the terri- 
tory of Massachusetts was overstocked, they 
passed to other States in New England, and 
ultimately to the great West. Wherever they 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 313 

were they asserted and defended the principles 
they inherited from the founders of Massachu- 
setts. 

"Abram Garfield, of the fifth generation, a min- 
ute-man from Lincoln, engaged in the fight with 
the British at Concord, and was one of the signers 
of a certificate, with some of the principal citizens 
of that town, declaring that the British began that 
fiu-ht. We should not feel so much solicitude 
about that matter now. 

"Abram Garfield, a nephew of the soldier at 
Concord, whose name he bore, and who repre- 
sented the seventh generation of the family, settled 
later in Otsego County, N. Y., where he received 
the »first fruits of toil as a laborer on the Erie 
Canal. The construction of canals by the Gov- 
ernment of Ohio drew him, with other relatives, 
to that State, where his previous experience gained 
for him a contract .on the Ohio Canal. * The young 
men and women who left the earlier settlements 
for the frontier States sometimes consecrated the 
friendships of their youth by a contract of mar- 
riage when they met again in the great West. 
Abram Garfield in this way met and married (Feb. 
3, 1821) Eliza Ballou, a Xew Hampshire maiden, 
whom he had known in earlier years. It was a 
long wait, but a solid union. They were nearly 
twenty years of age when married. A log cabin, 
with one room, was their home. His vocation 



314 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

was that of an excavator of canals in the depths 
of the primeval forests of Ohio. There was not 
much of hope or joy in the life before them ; but 
still it was all there was for them of hope or joy. 
They could not expect the crown of life until they 
had paid its forfeit. They adhered to the relig- 
ious customs of childhood. Their labor prospered. 
Amid their suffering and toil in the construction 
of the arteries of civilization and the foundation 
of States and empires that will hereafter rule the 
world, four children came to bless them. The 
last of the four was James Abram Garfield (Nov. 
19, 1831), destined, in the providence of God, 
to be and to die President of the Eepublic. 

" Garfield had pre-eminent skill in directing and 
applying the labor and attainments of others to the 
success of his own work. This is a somewhat rare, 
but a most invaluable capacity. No one man can 
do everything. In labor, as in war, to divide is to 
conquer. There have been men who knew every- 
thing, and could do everything, — whose incompar- 
able capacities would have been sufficient, under 
wise direction, to have given the highest rank 
among the few men that have changed the destiny 
of the world ; but who could not succeed in gov- 
ernment, because they never saw men until they 
ran against them. 

" Such admirable qualities, united to such strength 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 315 

and love for active service, gave him reputation 
and rank, and opened the way to the campaigns in 
Kentucky against Marshall, at Prestonburg and 
Middle Creek, — the last a cause of other vic- 
tories elsewhere, — and at Tullahoma and Chicka- 
mauga. 

" His knowledge of law opened a new field of 
activity and service, of great benefit to him and 
to the Government. But little attention had been 
given by professors of legal science, at the open- 
ing of the war, to the study of military law. In 
the field where it was to be administered, great 
difficulties were encountered in determining what 
the law was and who was to execute it. A dis- 
tinguished jurist, Dr. Francis Lieber, was ap- 
pointed by the Government to codify and digest 
the principles and precedents of this abstruse de- 
partment of the science of law. But it opened to 
Garfield, long before the digest was completed, a 
peculiar field for tireless research and labor in new 
fields of inquiry. Once installed as an officer of 
courts-martial, his services were found to be indis- 
pensable. From the West he was called to Wash- 
ington, was in confidential communication with 
President Lincoln in regard to the military situa- 
tion in the West, was a member of the most impor- 
tant military tribunals, became a favorite and 
protege of the Secretary of War, and, upon the 
express wish of the President and Secretary, ac- 



316 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

cepted bis seat in the House of Representatives, to 
which he had been chosen in 1862. 

" His career in Congress is the important record 
of his life. For that he was best fitted; with it 
he was best satisfied ; in it he continued longest, 
and from it rose to the great destiny which has 
given him a deathless name and page in the annals 
of the world. 

" The House of Representatives in the age of 
Clay, Calhoun and Webster was an institution 
quite unlike that of our own time. Its numbers 
then were small ; its leading men comparatively 
few ; but few subjects were debated, and members 
of the House rarely or never introduced bills for 
legislative action. Its work was prepared by com- 
mittees, upon official information, and gentlemen 
prepared to speak upon its business could always 
find an opportunity. Now its numbers have been 
doubled. More than ten thousand bills for legis- 
lative consideration are introduced in every Con- 
gress. The increase of appropriations, patronage 
and legislation is enormous, and the pressure for 
action often disorderly and violent. Little cour- 
tesy is wasted on such occasions, when one or two 
hundred members are shouting for the floor, and 
when one is named by the Speaker it must be a 
strong man, read}', able, eloquent, to gain or hold 
the ear of the House. Garfield never failed 
in this. His look drew audience and attention. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 317 

He was never unprepared, never tedious ; always 
began with his subject, and took his seat when he 
had finished. He had few controversies, and was 
never called 'to order' for any cause. He was 
a debater rather than an orator ; always courteous, 
intelligent, intelligible, and honorable. The House 
listened to him with rapt attention, and he spoke 
with decisive effect upon its judgment. He 
liked it to be understood that he was abreast 
of the best thought of the time, had a great re- 
gard for the authority of scientific leaders, and 
walked with reverential respect in the tracks of 
the best thinkers of the age. It is a pleasant 
thing, this method of settling all problems by 
demonstration of exact science. Hudibras must 
have been in error when he spoke so lightly of 
these scholastic methods, saying, or rather sing- 
ing,— 

' That all a rhetorician's rules 

Teach him but to name his tools.' 

"The people watched with great interest his 
long and terrible struggle for life, and their hearts 
trembled with alternations of hope and fear, as 
they studied with close attention the morning and 
the evening bulletins giving the ebb and flow of 
life's dark tide with the precision of exact science ; 
but they read with infinite relief, if not always 
with satisfaction, the telegrams of the Secretary of 
State to the American minister at London, stating, 



318 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

in the language of common life, the changes that 
had occurred in the condition of the President 
from day to day. 

"As chairman or, prominent member of the 
principal business committees of the House, Gar- 
field had always access to the floor, and an eager 
assembly as his audience. His topics were gener- 
ally of a national character, connected with the 
organization and maintenance of the government ; 
but there is scarcely any subject brought before 
Congress to which he has not, at some time, given 
a thorough and able exposition of his views. The 
best known and most influential of his speeches 
have been in relation to the war, financial affairs, 
the currency, and the tariff. These all involved 
national interests, and exhibit on his part a pro- 
found study of every subject necessary to their 
support. He was from the first, and constantly, 
a hard-money man, a leader in discussion, and a 
supporter by his votes of every proposition neces- 
sary to maintain a sound currency. On the 
subject of the tariff, while he did not deny that, as 
an abstract question, the doctrine of free trade 
presented an aspect of truth, yet he always de- 
clared that under a government like ours 
protection of national industries was indispensable. 
He advocated duties high enough to enable the 
home manufacturer to make a wholesome competi- 
tion with foreigners, but not so high as to subject 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 319 

consumers to a monopoly of product or supply. A 
moderate and permanent protection was the doc- 
trine he always ably sustained. It would be 
instructive to recall the expression of his views 
embodied in his speeches upon these subjects, 
which he photographed upon the minds of those to 
whom they were addressed, but it is inappro- 
priate on the present occasion. Few men in the 
history of the House of Representatives have 
acquired a higher reputation, and none will be 
more kindly and permanently remembered. 

" There was much force in a declaration made 
by the Pastor of the Disciples' Church, at the 
funeral of President Garfield, in the rotunda of the 
Capitol at Washington. The gigantic proportions 
of this apartment excite a strange sensation in 
every visitor. One familiar with the scene, recalls 
at his entrance an ancient tradition, often repeated 
before the war, that this majestic central apart- 
ment of the Capitol would, some day, witness the 
coronation of a king. Apart from the unusual 
solemnity of this occasion, the scene was of an 
extraordinary character. The light that fell from 
the dome above gave a solemn aspect to the 
apartment. Distinguished personages moved silent- 
ly and slowly to the positions assigned them. 
Two ex-Presidents, immediate predecessors of the 
deceased, the only occupants of the presidential 



320 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP 

• 

office that have attended at such a time, sat in 
front of the eastern entrance of the rotunda. The 
diplomatic corps, in full court costume, were 
placed in rear of the ex-Presidents. Senators, 
judicial officers in their robes, officers of the army 
and navy, in brilliant uniforms, were on the right. 
Members and ex-members of the House, in large 
numbers, attended by the Speaker, were massed 
upon the left, and the" space around them was 
crowded by citizens from every part of the country. 
The vast assembly rose as the President, with the 
Cabinet officers and the stricken family of mourn- 
ers, passed to their seats near the casket of the 
deceased Chief Magistrate, — which lay upon the 
same bier that bore the body of President Lincoln, 
just beneath the centre of the canopy that from 
the dome overhangs the rotunda, — guarded by 
veterans of the Army of the Cumberland. The 
walls were hung with representations of important 
events in American history ; — the Landing of 
Columbus, I)e Soto's Discovery of the Missis- 
sippi, the Baptism of Pocahontas, the Embarka- 
tion of the Pilgrims, the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, the Surrender of Cornwall is at Yorktown, 
and the Resignation of Washington. On the belt 
of the rotunda above were seen Cortez entering 
the Temple of the Sun in Mexico, the Battle of 
Lexington, and other studies of varied and mem- 
orable scenes in the history of the Republic. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 321 

" Simple, brief, and impressive ceremonies 
heightened the deep and general interest of the 
occasion. The funeral discourse was of a purely 
religious character, with scarcely more than a 
brief allusion to the career of the deceased Presi- 
dent, and no mention, I think, of his title or his 
name. But these omissions intensified the general 
interest in his brief personal allusions. 'I da 
believe,' he said, 'that the strength and beauty 
of this man's character will be found in his disci-, 
pleship of Christ.' 

"It is not my province to speak of the spiritual 
character of this connection, but in another rela- 
tion I .believe it is true. 

" The Church of the Disciples, to which he be- 
longed, is one of the most primitive of Christian 
communions, excluding every thought of distrust, 
competition, or advantage. It gave him a position 
and mission unique and generic, like and unlike 
that of other men. While he rarely or never 
referred to it himself, and wished at times, per- 
haps, to forget it, he was strengthened and pro-, 
tected by it. It was buckler and spear to him. 
It brought him into an immediate communion — a 
relation made sacred by a common faith, barren of 
engagements and responsibilities — with multi- 
tudes of other organizations and congregations, 
adherents and opponents, able and willing to assist 
and strengthen him, present or absent, at home or- 



322 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

abroad, who dismissed aspersions upon his con- 
duct and character as accusations of Pharisees 
against a son of faith, and gave him at all times a 
friendly greeting and welcome, "whenever and 
wherever he felt inspired to give the world his 
thought and word. All great migrations and revo- 
lutions of men and nations are born of this spirit 
and power. 

" In another direction he possessed extraordinary 
capacities. He was animated by an intense and 
sleepless spirit of acquisition. It was not, appar- 
ently, a common thirst for wealth, precedence, or 
power which stimulates many men in our time. His 
ambition was for the acquisition of knowledge. 
From early youth to the day of his last illness it 
was a consuming passion. He gave to it days and 
nights, the strength of }'outh and the vigor of 
middle age. When in the forests of New York, he 
made the rocks and trees to personate the heroes 
of his early reading. When engaged in the duties 
of his professorship, he found time for other 
studies than those prescribed by the faculty, and 
for lectures, addresses, and many other intel- 
lectual pursuits. He studied law while at college 
without the knowledge of his intimate friends, 
until he was admitted to the bar. When in Con- 
gress, he would occupy a whole night in examina- 
tion of questions to be considered the next day, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 323 

and debate them as if nothing unusual had oc- 
curred. 

" It was said by one of the wisest of the ancient 
Greeks that it was ' impossible to penetrate the 
secret thoughts, quality and judgment of man till 
he is put to proof by high office and administra- 
tion of the laws.' Whatever we may think of the 
splendid record of the late President in every 
walk of life he followed, it does not enable us to 
anticipate the character and success of the Admin- 
istration* upon which he so happily entered. In 
other positions of public life, the concurrence of so 
many different influences is required to accomplish' 
even slight results, that individual credit or 
responsibility therefor is but slight and intangible. 
In the administration of government, the highest 
secular duty to which men are ever called, respon- 
sibility is indivisible and unchangeable ; and the 
final results, whether for good or evil, are indel- 
ibly stamped on the woof and warp of the web of 
time, and will so remain forever. Good inten- 
tions are of no account, and a plea of confession 
and avoidance, — admitting failure and disclaiming 
error, — so advantageous in other cases, never 
governs the world in judging men who fail rightly 
to administer government. We are happy in 
being absolved from the responsibility of judgment 
where decision is impossible. 



324 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

" Undoubtedly, the open assertion in some parts 
of the world of the right of assassination as a 
method of reform in administration and govern- 
ment may have intensified the general interest in 
this calamitous event. But the courage and com- 
posure with which the presidential martyr bore 
his affliction ; the firmness and constancy of his 
aged mother ; the serenity and saint-like resigna- 
tion of the heroic wife, administering consolation 
and courage to the husband and father, in a voice 
sweet as the zephyrs of the south, with a spirit as 
gentle as love, and a soul as dauntless as the 
hearts of the women of Israel, — were not 
unobserved or unhonored. It melted hearts 
in the four quarters of the globe, and drew 
from the sons of men, in every land and 
clime, such an attestation and confession of 
the faith that all created beings are the chil- 
dren of one Father, as never before fell from 
human lips. We should be dead to sensibility and 
honor did we not feel such unwonted tests of the 
universal scope and sweep of human sympathy 
vouchsafed to us by the appointed leaders of 
churches, empires and democracies, and by that 
august lady the Queen of England and Empress of 
India, who presides over the councils of the em- 
pire whence we derive our ideas of Christian 
faith, language, liberty and law, who gave to the 
afflicted children of revolted and republican 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 325 

America the emblems of mourning, reserved by the 
customs of her court to the best beloved and 
bravest of her realm, and sent, over her own 
hand, to the wife, mother and orphans, swift and 
touching evidence of the strength of her sympathy 
and the depths of her sorrow— the grandest of 
sovereigns and noblest of women ! 

" We turn from this record of active and honor- 
able service to a brief consideration, such as the 
occasion permits, of the elements of character 
which distinguished President Garfield. After all, 
character is the only enduring form of wealth. It 
is the power by which the world is ruled, and the 
only legacy of true value that can be transmitted 
to posterity. 

" We cannot forget what occurred during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Lincoln, or of his successor, 
Mr. Johnson. We have witnessed no such politi- 
cal convulsions in our day. No one ever justified 
the assassination of Mr. Lincoln on such grounds, 
or would now counsel such violence against the 
chiefs of earlier administrations. Neither can it 
now be done with truth or justice. Those who 
enlisted in the opposition to past administrations 
were men whose intellectual and moral natures re- 
strained them from the execution of purposes dic- 
tated by passion. To those whose feeble intellects 
deprive them of moral restraint we should give 
support, and never justify, by thought or act, con- 



326 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

duct that, under other circumstances, might have 
endangered the lives of every President of the Re- 
public ! There is no cause or incitement to crime 
in the political controversies of this year, that 
might not have occurred under any other adminis- 
tration ; and no cause or justification, of any kind 
whatever, for such an ineffable and inexpiable 
crime as the murder of the mild, generous, warm- 
hearted, forgiving, and Christian Chief Magistrate 
whose loss we mourn. 

,f Political assassination is not insanity. It pro- 
ceeds from infection and distemper of the mind. 
It is not necessarily limited to the reform admin- 
istrations and. governments, nor to any special 
form of government. It can as well be applied to 
the settlement of a grocery bill, if an excitation be 
created, as to the overthrow of a dynasty. 

" It is another form of the doctrine of annihilation, 
and the remedy for its evil is to avoid convulsions, 
private and public, restrain passion, avoid injustice, 
practise moderation in all things, and do no evil 
that good may come. 

" The year 1881 is the complement of the full 
half-century since the first open movement was 
organized for the control or destruction of our 
government. The lesson of this half-century, with 
all its trials, sacrifices and triumphs, is that it is 
good to maintain and defend the government of 
our country and its lawfully constituted authori- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 327 

ties, whether or not we created them or like them. 
In the contemplation of this half-century, can we 
find cause to wish the government had been de- 
stroyed ? Or can we now wish it destroyed ? 

"The lesson of Garfield's life is an admonition to 
protect and defend the government. His birth 
marks the period when it was first assailed by 
enemies domestic ; and at the close of his life he 
gave his last hours of health and strength to im- 
prove and protect it. His last friend should give 
his last sigh to maintain it, not for his honor, 
which is untarnished, nor his glory, which is im- 
maculate, but for his country, which still has perils 
to encounter, and liberties to defend, for the bene- 
fit of mankind." 



328 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XLin. ■ 

Southern Feeling. — Memorial Services at Jefferson, Kentucky.— 
Extracts from Address by Henry Watterson. — Senator Bayard. — . 
Ex-Speaker Randall. — Senator Hill. — Extracts from some of 
the Southern Journals. 

At the United States military post at Jefferson, 
Kentucky, memorial services were held in the 
presence of fifteen thousand people. 

Henry Watterson, the Democratic ex-Congress- 
man, gave an eloquent address, from which we 
quote the following : — 

" I knew him well, and know now that I loved 
him. He was a man of ample soul, with the 
strength of a giant, the courage of a lion, and the 
heart of a dove. There never lived a man who 
yearned for the approval of his fellow-men, who 
felt their anger more. There never lived a man 
who struggled harder to realize Paul's idea, and to 
be all things to all men. Did ever the character 
sketched by Paul find a nobler example, for he 
Was blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, 
apt to teach, not given to filthy lucre. No one 
without the little family circle of relatives and 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 329 

friends in which he lived will ever know how a 
certain dismal, though in truth trivial, episode in 
his career cut him to the soul. Born a poor man's 
son, to live and die a poor man, with opportuni- 
ties unbounded for public pillage, Avith licensed 
robbery going on all around him, and he pinched 
for the bare means to maintain himself, his wife 
and his little ones with decency and comfort, to be 
held up to the scorn of men as one not honest ! 
He is gone now, and before he went he had out- 
lived the wounds which party friends alike with 
party foes had sought to put upon his honor and 
manhood, and maybe to-day somewhere among 
the stars he looks down upon the world and sees 
at last how selfish and unreal were the assaults of 
those in whose way he stood. It is a pleasure to 
me to reflect amid these gloomy scenes that some 
friendly words of mine gratified him at a moment 
when he suffered most. Not in the last campaign, 
for it would have been a crime in me to have hesi- 
tated then, but away back when no vision of the 
presidency had crossed the disc of his ambition, 
and when the cruelest blows were struck from be^ 
hind. It is also a pleasure for me to remember 
the last time I saw him. It was during an all- 
night session of the House, when in company with 
Joseph Hawley of Connecticut, Randall Gibson of 
Louisiana, and Randolph Tucker, we took pos- 
session of the committee rooms of Proctor Knott, 



330 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

who joined us later, and turned all bickerings and 
jars into happy forgetfulness of section and party. 
I do well remember how buoyant he was that night 
in spirit and how robust in thought, full of sugges- 
tion, and in repartee, unaffected and genial ever ; 
how delighted to lay aside the statesman and the 
partisan and be a boy again, and how loth he was, 
with the rest, to recross the narrow confines which 
separate the real and ideal, and to descend into 
the hot abyss below. I could not have gone thence 
to blacken that man's character any more than to 
do another deed of shame ; and Eepublican though 
he was, and party chief, he had no truer friends 
than the brilliant Virginian whom he loved like a 
brother, and the eminent Louisianian whose coun- 
sels he habitually sought. I refer to an incident 
unimportant in itself to illustrate a character 
which unfolded to the knowledge of the world 
through affliction, and whose death has awakened 
the love and admiration of mankind. 

" All know that he was a man of spotless integrity 
who might have been rich by a single deflection, 
but who died poor, who broadened and rose in 
height with each rise in fortune, who was not less a 
scholar because he had wanted early advantages, and 
who, not yet fifty, leaves as a priceless heritage to 
his countrymen the example of how God-given 
virtues of the head and heart may be employed to 
the glory of God and the uses of men, by one who 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 331 

makes all things subordinate to the development of 
the good within him. On all these points we think 
together ; there are not two opinions. We stand 
upon common ground ; we shall separate and go 
hence, and each shall take his way. Interests shall 
clash, beliefs shall jar, party spirit shall lift its 
horned head and interpose to chill and cloud our 
better natures. That is but a condition of our 
being. We arc mortal and we live in a free land. 
Out of discussion and dissension ends are shapened ; 
we rough-hewing j n spite of us. However, occa- 
sions come which remind us that we have a country 
and are countrymen ; which tell us we are a people 
bound together by many kindred ties. No matter 
for our quarrels, they will pass away. No matter 
for our mistakes, they shall be mended. But 
yesterday we were at war one with the other. The 
war is over. But yesterday we were arrayed in 
the anger of party conflict ; behold how its passions 
sleep in the grave with Garfield. I am here to-day 
to talk to you of him, and through him and in his 
memory and honor to talk of our country. He 
was its chief magistrate, our President, represen- 
tative of things common to us all ; stricken down 
in the fulness of life and hope by wanton and 
aimless assassination. He fell like a martyr; he 
suffered like a hero ; he died like a saint. Be his 
grave forever and aye a resting place for the 
people, and for tte seeds that burst thereon to let 



332 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



the violets bring spring flowers of peace and love 
for all the people. Citizens, the flag which waves 
over us was his flag and it is our flag. Soldiers, 
standing beneath that flag and this armed fortress 
of the Republic, I salute your flag and his flag 
reverently. It, is my flag. I thank God, and I 
shall teach my children to thank God, that it did 
not go down amid the fragments of a divided 
country, but that it floats to-day, though at half 
mast, as a symbol of union and liberty, assuring 
and reassuring us, that though the heart that con- 
ceived the words be cold, and the lips that uttered 
them be dumb, f God reigns and the government 
at Washington still lives.' " 

The tributes paid to the memory of Garfield by 
his political opponents show strikingly how widely 
he was honored and beloved by those who knew 
him as a friend as well as the leader of a party. 

Senator Bayard always treated the President 
with affectionate respect, and mourns him deeply. 
Ex-Speaker Randall "knew him intimately and 
respected him greatly." Senator Hill is much 
affected b}' the death. " Poor Garfield," he says, 
"was a big-hearted and a big-brained man. I 
shall never forget the last time I saw him. He 
was so cheerful and apparently happy. I never 
saw him fuller of mental and physical vigor and 
of hope for the future than then. I want to always 
remember him as he appeared tofne then — a per- 
fect man." 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 333 

The Courier- Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, 
said : " The President is dead, and all the nations 
responding to that touch of sympathy which makes 
the whole world kin stand uncovered in the pres- 
ence of a calamity ; for tragedies, ever calamitous, 
are doubly so when they spring from murder and 
attach themselves to the head of the State, the 
symbol of power, the representative of the people 
and law. If ever mortal stood in these relations 
to his country and his time, this man did so. It 
was the universal sense that he did so which 
brought around his bedside his fellow citizens 
without distinction of political opinion, and caused 
women who had never seen him to pray for him, 
and little children, who conceived not the emer- 
gency nor the magnitude nor the contingencies 
hanging upon his life, to ask each day after his 
well-being, as if he were a father ill and dying in 
some far-off place. Perhaps, too, the flash of the 
assassin's pistol let in to many a heart a feeling of 
honest regret, before dormant and unconscious, 
that they had consented to see so good and so use- 
ful a man so pitilessly assailed in his private honor 
during periods of angry partisan contention, and a 
consequent wish, personally, to disavow this and 
to make a part of it at least up to him in his dire 
misfortune." 

The Baltimore Sun (Independent), alluding to 
President Garfield's death, said: "Turning from 



334 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the peculiarly tragic and distressing circumstances 
of the President's death, 'tis difficult to exaggerate 
the loss which the nation sustains in his death at 
this time. Although his Administration was in its 
infancy, President Garfield had already met the 
confidence of his country in the integrity of his 
purposes, the moderation, soundness and con- 
servatism of his policy." 

Said another Southern Journal : "In his death, 
mournful as it is, the sections will evince a common 
sympathy that may cement more closely the bonds 
of that fraternity so essential to the keeping of the 
compact between the States. North, South, East 
and West will join in the grief over the grave of 
the dead President — a sure sign that the currents 
of the national life flow as strong as they ever did 
in the history of the Union." 

The JVew Orleans Times snid: " Throughout our 
whole land parties stand disarmed, and citizens 
bitterly deplore the death of James A. Garfield. 
Henceforth he lives in memory, and though he 
was permitted to accomplish but little during his 
presidential service, by his death he has given to 
his countrymen a deeper scrutiny into themselves 
— a most precious service " 

The Picayune, after referring to the assassination 
of President Lincoln, said : " This is a sadder story 
in our national life. It was Garfield's fortune to 
come to the high office of chief magistrate at a time 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 335 

when peace and prosperity reigned throughout the 
broad confines of this great land. There was naught 
but sincere respect for his authority among the 
masses, and earnest wishes in the hearts of nearly 
all her citizens that his administration might prove 
a happy one for himself as it promised a prosper- 
ous one for the country. He was worthy of so 
proud a position, and in his inaugural proclaimed 
the new life of a nation united not in name but in 
truth." 



336 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XLIY. 

Extracts from some of the President's Private Letters to a Friend 
in Boston, bearing the same Family Name. — To Corydon E. 
Fuller, a College Classmate. 

One of the last letters written by President 
Garfield was to a gentleman in Boston, who bore 
the same family name. They were warm friends 
and mutually interested in the Garfield genealogy. 
They had often spoken of the pleasure they would 
take in going over the country in the neighborhood 
of Boston, where their common ancestors had had 
their homes, and they had agreed, should chance 
ever bring them together here, to take a little ex- 
cursion, and as the President was about starting on 
a New England tour, the letter related to the long 
anticipated pleasure. If possible, the President 
was to take leave of his formal escort at Concord 
and enjoy a quiet buggy drive with his friend, 
keeping perfectly incognito. They were to visit 
the scenes of interest at Concord, where the 
President's great-uncle, Abram Garfield, from 
whom he gets his middle name, stood, perhaps, 
shoulder to shoulder with John Hoar, the grand- 






JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 337 

father of the chairman of the Republican conven- 
tion at Chicago which so unexpectedly nominated 
him for his fateful office. Thence they were to 
drive through Lincoln, Weston, Waltham and 
YVatertown — towns where the homes of their an- 
cestors and kinsmen had stood. At Watertown 
the intention was to rejoin the regular party. 

The letter was evidently written late on the 
evening before he was shot, and was in the hand- 
writing of the President's private secretary, but 
bore the clear signature of J. A. Garfield. It 
was not sent from Washington until after Guiteau's 
shot had been fired, for it bore the postmark of 1 
P. M. General Garfield had had considerable 
correspondence with his friend about family mat- 
ters, and his letters formed the basis of much 
of the accurate article on his family genealogy 
printed in the Herald shortly after the Chicago 
convention. In a letter he wrote : — 

" You can hardly imagine the pleasure which 
your letter of the 3d Inst, has given me. You 
will better understand why, when I tell you the 
causes which have so nearly shut me off from any 
knowledge of my ancestry. My' father moved 
into the wild woods of Ohio before he was twenty 
years of age, and died when he was thirty-three, 
and of course when all his children were small, 
and I, the youngest, but an infant. Separated 
thus from the early home of our father, we had 



338 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

but scanty means of obtaining anything like ac- 
curate information of his ancestry. The most I 
knew, until quite recently, were the family tradi- 
tions retained in the memory of my mother, as 
she had heard them from father and his mother. 
During the last eighteen years I have, from time 
to time, picked up fragmentary facts and traditions 
concerning our family and its origin. Many of 
these traditions are vague and no doubt worthless, 
but I have no doubt they have some truth in them. 
One of them is that the family was originally from 
Wales. This tallies with what you say concern- 
insr the original Edward Garfield coming from the 
neighborhood of Chester, Eng. I stood on the 
walls of Chester a little more than four years ago, 
and looked out on the bleak mountains of Wales, 
whose northern boundary lay at my feet, along the 
banks of the Dee. Possibly I was near our ances- 
tral home. A Welsh scholar told me, not many 
years ago, that he had no doubt our family was 
connected with the builders of an old castle in 
Wales, long since in ruins, but still known as Gaer- 
fill Castle. I give } r ou this conjecture for what 
it is worth. While I was in college at Williams- 
town, Mass., in 1854 to 1856, I went down to old 
Tyringham and Lee, in Berkshire County, Mass., 
and there found a large number of Garfields, some 
twenty families, old residents of that neighbor- 
hood. Among them were the names Solomon and 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 339 

Thomas, which seemed to have continued along in 
the family. I found that they had come from the 
neighborhood of Boston. In an old graveyard in 
Tyringham (now Monterey) I found the tombstone 
of Lieutenant Isaac Gearfield (for that, I learn, 
was the early spelling of the name), and on the 
stone was recorded 1755 as the date of his death. 
The family told me that he (Lieutenant Isaac) 
crossed the mountains into the wilderness of west- 
ern Massachusetts in about 1739, and slept the 
first night under his cart. ... I am sure I 
do not need to apologize to you for this long letter, 
for if it gives you half the pleasure yours has given 
me, you will not tire of its length. I beg you to 
write me any further details you may possess, and 
any you may hereafter obtain." 

Following are a number of extracts from letters 
addressed to Mr. Cory don E. Fuller : — 

"Warrensville, Jan. 16, 1852. 

"My Dear Corydon : Well, I quit writing 
that evening to attend the Warrensville Literary 
Club, of which I am a member. We had a very 
good time considering the 'timber.' We have 
resolved ourselves into a senate, each member re- 
presenting some State in the Union. I am not 
only President, but also a representative from 
South Carolina, to watch the interests of my nul- 
lifying constituents. The bill before our senate for 



340 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

our next evening is, ' That we will assist financially 
the Hungarian exiles, Kossuth and his compatriots, 
from our national Treasury.' We shall undoubt- 
edly have a warm time. By the way, what do you 
think of the effect of the excitement in reference 
to Kossuth upon our Nation and popular liberty ? 
How far may our Government safely interfere in 
the Hungarian struggle? But I am certainly 
rhapsodical this time. You must write to me and 
trim me up. I am seated in my schoolhouse, a 
room about 18 by 20, with a stove in the centre 
and in school., the scholars being all around me — 
forty on the list. With these facts before me I 
am led to exclaim, — 

" Of all the trades by men pursued 

There's none that's more perplexing* 
Than is the country's pedagogue's — 
It's every way most vexing. 

Cooped in a little narrow cell, 

As hot as black Tartarus, 
As well in Pandemonium dwell, 
As in this little schoolhouse. 

" Your friend and classmate, 

"Jajies A. Garfield." 

The following is taken from a letter dated Feb. 
2, 1852, written near the close of the village 
school at Warrensville, Ohio, — 

" Oh, that I possessed the power to scatter the 
firebrands of ambition among the youth of the ris- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 341 

ing generation, and let them see the Greatness of 
the age in which they live and the destiny to 
which mankind are rushing, together with the part 
which they are destined to act in the great drama 
of human existence. But, if I cannot inspire 
them with that spirit, I intend to keep it predomi- 
nant in my own breast, and let it spur me forward 
to action. But let us remember that knowledge is 
only an increase of power, and is only good when 
directed to good ends. Though a man may have 
all knowledge, and have not the love of God in 
his heart, he will fall far short of true excellence." 

Here is an extract from a letter written in 
April, 1853,— 

"To my mind the whole catalogue of fashionable 
friendships and polite intimacies are not worth one 
honest tear of sympathy or one heartfelt emotion 
of true friendship. Unless I can enter the inner 
chambers of the soul and read the inscriptions 
there upon those ever-during tablets, and thus be- 
come acquainted with the inner life and know the 
inner man, I care not for intercourse, for nothing 

else is true friendship I have no very 

intimate associates here, and hence, if it please 
you, I will be social with my pen and be often 
cheered by a letter from you. Let us in all the 
varied fortunes of human life look forward to that 
lamp which will enlighten the darkness of earth, 
the valley of death, and then become the bright and 



342 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEimCES OF 

morning star in the heaven of heavens. Give my 
love to your father and mother for they seem like 
mine also, and you know you have the love of 
your brother, James." 

The following shows how keenly sensitive 
Garfield was, even as a boy, and how early in life 
he determined to make a name for himself, — 

" Williamstown, Jan. 28, 1854. 
" My Dear Corydon : I wish you were here 
to-night ; I feel like waking up the ghosts of the 
dead past, and holding communion with spirits of 
former days. In this calm " night that broodeth 
thoughts " the shadows of by-gone days flit past, 
and I review each scene. That long strange story 
of my boyhood, the taunts, jeers, and cold, 
averted looks of the rich and the proud, chill me 
again for a moment, as did the real ones of former 
days. Then comes the burning heart, the high re- 
solve, the settled determination, and the days and 
nights of struggling toil, those dreary days when 
the heavens seemed to frown and the icy heart of 
the cold world seemed not to give one throb in 
unison with mine With regards, I re- 
main, as ever, your friend and classmate, 

"James A. Garfield." 

" Niagara, Nov. 5, 1853. 
M Corydon, my Brother : I am now leaning 
against the trunk of an evergreen tree on a beauti- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 343 

fill island in the midst of Niagara's foaming waters. 

I am alone. No breath of wind disturbs the 
leaves of evergreen, which hang mute and motion- 
less around me. Animated nature is silent, for 
the voice of God, like the " sound of many waters," 
is lifted up from the swathing clouds of hoary 
foam that rest upon the dark abyss below. 

' Oh, fearful stream. 

How do thy terrors tear me from myself 
And fill my soul with wonder.' 

I gaze upon the broad green waters as they 
come placid and smooth, like firm battalions of 
embattled hosts, moving in steady columns, till 
the sloping channel stirs the depths and maddens 
all the waters. Then with angry roar the legions 
bound along the opposing rocks, until they reach 
the awful brink, where, all surcharged with frantic 
fury, they leap bellowing down the fearful rocks 
which thunder back the sullen echoes of thy voice, 
and shout God's power above the cloudy skies ! 
Oh man ! frail child of dust thou art to lift thy 
insect voice upcn this spot where the Almighty 
thunders from the swelling floods that lift to 
heaven their hoary breath, like clouds of smoking 
incense. Oh, that the assembled millions of the 
earth could now behold this scene sublime and 
awful, and adore the everlasting God whose 
fingers piled these giant cliifs, and sent his sound- 



344 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

ing seas to thunder down and shout in deafening 
tones, ' We come from out the hollow of His 
hand, and haste to do His bidding.' 

" Your friend and brother, 

"James A. Garfield." 

Here are a few lilies written in 1859, just after 
his nomination to the Senate of Ohio, — 

"Lono- ago, you know, I had thought of a 

© © 7 t/ *~ - 

public career, but I fully resolved to forego it all, 
unless it could be obtained without wading through 
the mire into which politicians usually plunge. 
The nomination was tendered me, and by acclama- 
tion, though there were five candidates. I never 
solicited the place, nor did I make any bargain to 
secure it. I shall endeavor to do my duty, and if 
I never rise any higher, I hope to have the con- 
solation that my manhood is unsullied by the past." 

" Williamstown, June 19, 1855. 
" My Dear Corydon : Your favor of the 4th 
inst. was received about ten days ago, but I have 
been entirely unable to answer until this time. A 
day or two after it came I left for Pittstown, N. Y., 
to attend a yearly meeting of Disciples, where I 
spent some four days, and last Saturday I left 
again for Poestenkill, and spoke to the people 
Saturday evening and three discourses on Lord's 
Day. . . . We had good meetings in each place, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 345 

and much interest. I cannot resist the appeals of 
our brethren for aid while I have the strength to 
speak to them. . . . I tell you, my dear brother, 
the cause in which we arc engaged must take the 
world. It tills my soul when I reflect upon the 
light, joy, and love of the ancient Gospel, and its 
adaptation to the wants of the human race. . . . 
I Ions: to be in the thickest of the fight, and see 
the army of truth charge home upon the battalions 
of hoary-headed error. But I must be content to 
be a spy for a time, till I have reconnoitred the 
enemy's stronghold, and then I hope to work. 
Ever your friend and classmate, 

"James A. Garfield." 

" Dorchester Heights, Jan. 5, 1856. 
" My Dear Corydon and Mary : I want to 
pencil a few lines to you from this enchanting 
spot on the sea-shore, six miles from Boston, and 
when I return, perhaps I will ink it in a letter to 
you. I am spending the night here with a class- 
mate of mine, one of the dearest friends I have in 
college. I am in an old house — every timber of 
oak — built more than one hundred years ago. To 
one who has seen cities rise from the wild forest in 
the space of a dozen years, and has hardly ever 
seen a building older than himself, you may be 
assured that many reflections are awakened by the 
look of antiquity that everything has around me. 



346 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The quaint old beams and panelled walls, the 
heavy double windows that look out ocean- 
Avard, in short, the whole air of the building 
speaks of the days of the olden time. To think 
that these walls have echoed to the shouts of 
loyalty to George the King — have heard all the 
voices of the spirit-stirring Revolution, the patriotic 
resolve, the tramp of the soldier's foot, the voice of 
the beloved Washington, (for within a few rods of 
here he made his first Revolutionary encampment,) 
the cannon of Bunker Hill, the lamentations of defeat 
and shouts of victory — all these cannot but 
awaken peculiar reflections. To how many that 
are now sleepers in the quiet church-yard, or wan- 
derers in the wide, cold world, has this been the 
dear ancestral hall where all the joys of childhood 
were clustered. Within this oaken-ceiled chamber 
how many bright hopes have been cherished and 
high resolves formed ; how many hours of serene 
joy, and how many heart-throbs of bitter anguish ! 
If these walls had a voice I would ask them to tell 
me the mingled scenes of joy and sorrow they 
have witnessed. But even their silence has a 
voice, and I love to listen. But without there is 
no silence, for the tempest is howling and snows 
are drifting. The voice of the great waves, as 
they come rolling up against the wintry shore, 
speak of Him ' whose voice is as the sound of many 
waters.' Only a few miles from here is the spot 
where — 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 347 

* The breaking waves dashed high 

On a stern and rock-bound coast, 
And the woods against a stormy sky 

Their giant branches tossed; 
And the heavy night hung dark, 

The hills and waters o'er, 
When a band of pilgrims moored their bark 

On the wild New-England shore.' 

" But the coal has sunk to the lowest bar in the 
grate beside me — 'tis far past the noon of night, 
and I must close. ... As ever, your own 
affectionate James." 

The following letter, written to Mr. Fuller wdiile 
Gen. Garfield was chief-of-staff to Gen. Rose- 
crans, will be of special historical value, — 

" Headquakteks Dept. of the Cumberland, 
"Muufeeesboro, Tenn., May 4, 1863. 

" My Dear Corydon : Yours of April 1 was 
received by the hand of Lieut. Beeber, and I 
assure you it was read with great pleasure. When 
I was in Washington last winter I saw Mr. Col- 
fax, who spoke very kindly and highly of you. I 
have now fully recovered my health, and for the 
last three months have been very hardy and 
robust. My duties are very full of work here, 
and I have never been more pressingly crowded 
with labor than now. I have not retired on an 
average before two o'clock for the last two months 
and a half. Gen. Rosecrans shares all his counsels 



348 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

with me, and places a large share of the responsi- 
bility of the management of this wing upon me ; 
even more than I sometimes wish he did. This 
army is now in admirable condition. The poor 
and weak material has been worked out, and what 
we now have is hard brawn and solid muscle. It 
is in an admirable state of discipline, and when 
its engineries are fully set in motion, it will make 
itself felt. From all the present indications it 
cannot be Ions; before we meet the rebel armv now 
in our front, and try its strength again. When 
that day arrives, it bids fair to be the bloodiest 
fighting of the war. One thing is settled in my 
mind. Direct blows at the rebel army, bloody 
fighting is all that can end the rebellion. In 
European Avars, if you capture the chief city of a 
nation, you have substantially captured the nation. 
The army that holds London, Paris, Vienna or 
Berlin, holds England, France, Austria or Prussia. 
Not so in this war. The rebels have no city the 
capture of which will overthrow their power. If 
we take Richmond, the rebel Government can be 
put on wheels and trundled away into the 
interior with all its archives in two days. Hence 
our real objective point is not any place or dis- 
trict, but the rebel army, wherever we find it. 
We must crush and pulverize them, and then all 
places and territories fall into our hands as a con- 
sequence. These views lead me to a hope and 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 349 

belief that before many days we shall join in a 
death-grapple with Bragg and Johnson. God 
grant that we may be successful. The armies are 
nearly equal in number, and both are tilled with 
veteran soldiers well drilled and disciplined. The 
little circumstance you related to me of the soldier 
in the Fifty-first Indiana touches my heart." [A 
soldier who was killed had written home to his 
wife to name their child, born during the former's 
absence, after Gen. Garfield.] "I wish you would 
write a letter for me to Joseph Lay, the young 
man's father, and express my sympathy with him 
for the loss of his brave son, who was many times 
with me under the fire of the enemy. I want to 
know of the health of his family, and especially 
of that little one to whom the affection of the 
father gave my name. With the love of other 
days, I am, as ever, your brother, James." 

Here is a glimpse of his home life, — 

" Washington, Oct. 23, 1876. 

" My Dear Corydon : On Saturday last I ad- 
dressed a large Republican meeting at Hackensack, 
four miles from Schraalenburg, where I went with 
you twenty-two years ago. I have never been so 
near there before, and it brought up the old memo- 
ries to be so near. I was called here by telegraph 
to the bedside of our little boy Edward, who is very 



350 LIFE ATNTD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

ill and I fear will not recover. • He was recovering 
from the whooping cough, and his disease went 
to his brain. He has now been lying in an uncon- 
scious state nearly four days, and unless the 
pressure can soon be removed, he cannot last long. 
He is a beautiful child of two years, and the thought 
of losing him rives our hearts. But he is in the 
keeping of our good Father, who knows what is 
best for us. All the rest of us are well. I have 
worked very hard this campaign, having spoken 
almost constantly for two months. You have 
probably seen that I was re-elected by about 9,000 
majority, this being my eighth election ; but of 
what avail is public honor in the presence of death ? 
It has been a long time since I have heard from 
you, and I hope that you will write soon. 'Crete 
joins me in love to you and Mary. 

" Ever your friend and classmate, 

"James A. Garfield." 

" Washington, Nov. 9, 1876. 
"My Dear Corydox : I arrived in this city 
yesterday afternoon and found that your kind let- 
ter' of the 2d hist, was awaiting me. Our precious 
little Eddie died on the 25th of October, and the 
same evening 'Crete and I left with the body, and 
on the 27th we buried him beside our little girl who 
died thirteen veins ago. Both are lying in the 
graveyard at Hiram, and we have come back to 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 351 

those which are still left us, but with a desolation 
in our hearts ' ..own only to those who have lost a 
precious chil<fc It seems to me that we are many 
years older than we were when the dear little boy 
died. His little baby ways so tilled the house with 
joy that the silence he has left is heartbreaking. 
It needs all my philosophy and courage to bear it. 
It was very hard to go on with the work of the 
great campaign with so great a grief in my heart, 
but I knew that it was my duty, and I did it as well 
as I could. I spoke almost every day till the 
election, but it now appears that we are defeated. 
What the future of our country will be no one can 
tell. The only safety we can rely on lies in the 
closeness of the vote both on the Presidency and 
on the members of the House of Representatives. 
We have so far reduced the strength of the 
Democratic House that I hope they will not be 
able to do much harm. Still we shall have a hard, 
uncomfortable struggle to save the fruits of our 
great war. We shall need all the wisdom and 
patriotism the country possesses to save ourselves 
from irretrievable calamity. If we had carried the 
House of Representatives it was almost certain that 
I should have been elected Speaker ; but, of 
course, that has gone down in the general wreck. 
'Crete joins me in kindest regards to you and 
May. 1 hope the time may come when we can 
sit down and renew the memories of other days 



352 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and enjoy a long visit. I am here now for the 
winter, and shall soon be at wo/- in the Supreme 
Court, where I am having a number of important 
cases. With as much love as ever, I am your 
friend and brother, 

" James A. Garfield." 



i 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 353 



CHAPTER XLV. 

Reminiscences of Cory don E. Fuller. — Of one of the Pupils at Hiram 
Institute. — Garfield's Keen Observation. — His Kindness of 
Heart. — Anecdote of the Game of Ball. — Of the Lame Girl in 
Washington. — Of Brown, the ex-Scout and old Boat Com- 
panion. 

Mr. Corydon E. Fuller, to whom the let- 
ters in the preceding chapter were addressed, 
was one of the most intimate of the late Presi- 
dent Garfield's friends, and shared with him the 
early privations of his academic and collegiate 
life. Mr. Fuller said : tr My first acquaintance 
with Mr. Garfield was in the Eclectic Institute 
at Hiram College in the year 1851. We entered 
the school at the same time. My first recol- 
lection of him is as a young man, looking all of 
twenty years old, about six feet in height, power- 
fully built, with a head of bushy hair, and weigh- 
ing about one hundred and eighty-five pounds. I 
remember him attired in Kentucky jean clothes 
with calico sleeves, ringing the bell for the opening 
of recitations. We very soon became acquainted, 
and that was during the Fall term of 1851. At 
this time the Boyntoii bo} - s and girls, numbering 



354 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

six, were also at the school. These were closely 
related to Garfield. One of them was the Mrs. 
Arnold, killed at the Newberg railroad disaster at 
the same time with Thomas Garfield, uncle of the 
late President. In the winter of 1851-2 Mr. Gar- 
field taught school at Warrensville, Cuyahoga 
County, and I at Hamilton, Geauga County. At 
that time we commenced corresponding, and kept 
it up until the time of his assassination." 

" I remember once asking him," said one of Gar- 
field's pupils, " what was the best way to pursue a 
certain study, and he said : r Use several text-^ 
books. Get the views of different authors as you 
advance. In that way you can plow a broader 
furrow. I always study in that way.' He tried 
hard to teach us to observe carefully and accurate- 
ly. He broke out one day in the midst of a les- 
son with ' Henry how many posts are there under 
the building down stairs ? ' Henry expressed his 
opinion, and the question went around the class, 
hardly one getting it right. Then it was : ' Plow 
many boot-scrapers are there at the door ? ' ' How 
many windows in the building?' 'How many trees 
in the field ! ' c What were the colors of different 
rooms, and the peculiarities of any familiar ob- 
jects? ' He was the keenest observer I ever saw, 
1 think he noticed and numbered every button on 
our coats." 

" There was one grand thing about President 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 355 

Garfield," said one who knew him well, "and that 
was he never felt ashamed to work, no matter 
what position he filled. He was always engaged 
in something, and I have never seen him alone 
when his thoughts were not deeply engaged in 
something. One great thing that was no doubt 
the greatest secret of his success, was his constant 
desire to be elevated to a higher position. He was 
always reaching for something, and never gave up 
until he received that for which he was working. 
Again, he never was ashamed of his low condition 
or poverty, and I have often heard him say, durino- 
the course of conversations, that 'there never was 
a grander thing to see than a man or woman in 
earnest in anything they undertake. Xo matter 
whether they may be right or wrong, to see them in 
dead earnest and working for dear life for the ob- 
ject of their desire is a noble sight to witness.' I'll 
call your attention to another fact : he always went 
along with his eyes and ears open, catching up 
every opportunity to learn something. He would 
walk along the street, and to merely glance at a 
stranger would not satisfy him, but he would watch 
a person and try to discover something in his 
countenance, and he couldn't look at a lady with- 
out being able to tell you the color of every ribbon 
on her hat. He has often told me that the great 
keeness of his perceptive faculties were often pain- 
ful to him. If travelling on a railroad train, and 



356 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the cars by chance would stop a short time, he was 
out inquiring the cause of the delay, and while 
walking* leisurely along some highway he would 
meet a German or Irishman working, when he would 
stop and interrogate them, and then tell his friends 
what he had 'learned. He was always determined 
to learn something." 

At one time when walking with a friend through 
the streets of Cleveland, Garfield suddenly stopped 
and then darted down a cellar- way. Over the 
door was the sign " Saws and Files," and a click- 
ing sound could be heard below. 

"I think this fellow is cutting files," said Gar- 
field, " and I have never seen a file cut." 

He was right ; there was a man below stairs who 
was re-cutting an old file, so the two friends stayed 
there some ten minutes, until the whole process of 
file-cutting was thoroughly understood. 

" Garfield would never go by anything," said 
his friend, "without understanding it." 

His native kindness of heart is seen in an inci- 
dent that occurred while he was principal at Hiram 
Institute. Ruling in the schoolroom with o-rcat 
firmness, he was always ready to join the boys in 
their games on the playground. One day, when 
he had taken his place in a game of ball, he hap- 
pened to see some small boys close by the fence, 
Avho were looking on with wistful eyes. 

" Are these boys not in the game ? " he said to 
the players. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 357 

" What ! those little tads ? Of course not. 
They'd spoil the game." 

" But they want to play," said the principal, 
"just as much as we do. Let them come in." 

"Oh no ! " was the exclamation ; "it's no use to 
spoil the game ; they can't play." 

"Well," said Garfield, laying down his bat, 
" if they can't play I won't." 

" All right, then, let them come in," was the 
answer, and so the kind-hearted teacher won the 
day. 

Another story is told as follows : Two Southern 
ladies engaged in charitable work connected with 
their church society became interested in the case 
of a family consisting of a blind man, his invalid 
wife, and a lame daughter. The latter was at work 
in the fourth story of a government building in 
Washington, at a salary of $400 per annum, and to 
get this small amount she was obliged to walk (using 
a crutch) nearly three miles each way daily be- 
tween her house and the printing-room, and to 
climb four flights of stairs to her labors. This so 
exhausted the poor child that she was fast losing 
her health. These two Southern ladies looked 
about them to see who, among the influential men 
in Washington, had the broadest human sympathy, 
and decided that General James A. Garfield, then 
M. C, was the man most likely to help them in 
benefiting this afflicted family. They accordingly 



358 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

visited General Garfield's house, and found a car- 
riage before the door. Though complete strangers 
to him, they sent their cards to the general, who 
immediately came down stairs. He had his over- 
coat thrown over his arm, but very courteously 
greeted the ladies and asked what he could do for 
them. They said, — 

" We notice you appear to be about leaving, and 
perhaps we detain you." He replied, "I am about 
to take the cars, but I will delay till next train if I 
can in any way be of service to you;" and he 
showed them into the parlor and introduced them 
to his wife. When he was told the case he replied 
that he should be away from Washington for two 
or three days, but if they would remind him on 
his return, he would do all he could to assist them. 
Airs. Garfield engaged to remind the general on 
his return, which she did, and through his kind- 
ness and effort this lame girl was transferred from 
the fourth floor to the first, and her salary made 
$1200 instead of $400. 

Still another instance of Garfield's kindness of 
heart is shown in the following story : — 

One time when he was about to deliver an 
address at Cornell, a heavy hand was laid upon his 
shoulder, and turning about, he saw Brown, his 
ex-scout and old boat companion. He was a sad- 
looking wreck — with bleared eyes, bloated face, 
and garments that were half tatters. He had 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 359 

come, he said, while the tears rolled down his 
cheeks, to that quiet place to die, and now he 
could die in peace because he had seen his 
'gineral.' 

Garfield gave him money and got him quarters 
among some kind people, and left him, telling him 
to try to be a man ; but, in any event, to let him 
know if he ever needed further help. A year or 
more passed, and no word came from Brown ; but 
then the superintendent of the public hospital at 
Buffalo wrote the general that a man was there 
very sick, who, in his delirium, talked of him, of 
the Ohio Canal, and of the Sandy Valley expedi- 
tion. Garfield knew at once that it was Brown, 
and immediately forwarded funds to the hospital, 
asking that he should have every possible care 
and comfort. The letter which acknowledged the 
remittance announced that the poor fellow had 
died — died, muttering, in his delirium, the name 
'Jim Garfield.' 

Garfield paid his funeral expenses. 

"Poor Brown!" he exclaimed, " he had a rare 
combination of good and bad qualities, with strong 
traits, a ruined man ; and yet, underneath the 
ruins, a great deal of generous, self-sacrificing 
noble-heartedness." 



360 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Remarks of a Personal Friend. — Reminiscences of the President's 
Cousin, Henry Boynton. — Garfield as a Freemason. 

Said a personal friend, — 

" No one who saw President Garfield after his 
installation in the White House can fail to have 
observed the great change which his accession to 
power had occasioned in him. Only at intervals 
did his bright joyousness shine out again, as at the 
pleasant home at Mentor. The very day after he 
became President, the struggle for the spoils of 
office began with a fierceness hitherto unparalleled 
in all the strife of that kind which has been seen at 
Washington. He was half-maddened by his desire 
to do justice to all the contending factions. It 
was this feeling which made him slow to give 
irrevocable decisions. I was at the White House 
one morning, and he referred to his anxiety not to 
take a step in haste which he might repent at 
leisure. The humor of his own cautious slowness 
brought back the twinkle in his eye, the smile on 
the rosy lip. f I don't know when I shall get 
around to that,' he said. f You know, there's no 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 361 

telling when the ' Mississippi River will reach a 
given point.' The sluggish movement of the great 
Father of Waters was hit off to the life by this 
impromptu epigram." 

Hardly had Garfield been nominated for the 
presidency, when his neighbors, those who had 
known him from boyhood, together with his kins- 
men, gathered, and raised upon his old home, near 
the spot where he was born, a pole, and placed 
thereon the candidate's name. The pole was 
erected where the house stood which Garfield 
with his brother erected for their mother and 
sisters with their own hands, after the log hut, a 
little farther out in the field nearer the wood, had 
become unfit for habitation. Thomas Garfield, an 
old man eighty years of age, the one who was 
killed in a railroad accident soon after Gen. Garfield 
had been inaugurated President, directed the manual 
labor of rearing the shaft, and was proud of his 
work. Soon after it was erected Garfield himself 
came #om Mentor to look over the old place 
again, and with proud satisfaction looked upon 
this expression of friendship of his old neighbors. 
There is nothing except this pole left to mark his 
birthplace, and the old well, not two rods off, 
which he and his brother dug to furnish water for 
the family. On the day of the funeral services, 
the torn and tattered banner which those who 
knew him from childhood to manhood had erected 



362 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

in his honor, was lazily floating in the breeze half- 
way down the pole, showing in its plain way 
the sorrow of those who so gladly erected it 
less uhan we> m„: V ago. In the little maple 
grove to the left children played about the country 
schoolhouse, which has replaced the log one where 
the dead President first gathered the rudiments 
upon which he built to such purpose. The old 
orchard in its sere and yellow leaf, the dying 
grass, and the turning maple leaves, seemed to 
join in the general mourning. 

Adjoining the field where the flag floats is an 
unpretentious homestead almost as much identified 
with General Garfield's early history as the one he 
helped to clear of the forest timber while he was 
yet but a child, but is now free of buildings. It 
is the home of Henry B. Boynton, cousin of the 
dead President, and a brother of Dr. Boynton, 
who has been so conspicuously connected with the 
Garfield family since Mrs. Garfield's illness last 
spring. " General Garfield and I were like broth- 
ers," said he to a visitor, as he turned from giving 
some directions to his farm hands, now sowing the 
fall grain upon ground which the dead President 
first helped to break. He looked off tearfully, as 
he spoke, toward the flag at half-mast, marking 
the birthplace of his life-long friend. " His father 
died yonder, within a stone's throw of us, when 
the son was but one and a half years old and I Avas 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 363 

hut three and a half. He knew no other father 
than mine, "who watched over the family as if it 
had been his own. I bore a peculiar relation to 
the general. His father and my father were half- 
brothers, and his mother and my mother were sis- 
ters. This very house in which I live was as muck 
his home as it was mine." They walked toward 
the house as he spoke, and had here reached the 
plain mansion which was the house of the speak- 
er's ancestors, as well as General Garfield's, and 
passed inside, to find his good housewife silent 
and tearful, and whose swollen eyes told plainer 
than words the terrible sorrow they all felt. 

" Over there," said he, pointing to the brick 
schoolhouse in the grove of maples, around which 
the happy children were playing, Cf is where he and 
I first went to school. I have read a statement 
that he could not read or write until he was nine- 
teen. He could do both before he was nine ; and 
before he was twelve, so familiar was he with the 
Indian history of the country, that he had named 
every tree in the orchard, which his father planted 
before he was born, with* the name of some In- 
dian chief. One favorite tree of his he named 
'Tecumseh,' and the branches of many of those 
old trees have been cut since his promotion to the 
presidency by relic hunters and carried away. 
General Garfield was a remarkable boy, sir, as 
well as man. It is not possible to tell you the 



364 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

fight he made amid poverty for a place in life, and 
how gradually he obtained it. When he was a 
boy he would rather read than work. But he 
became a great student. He had to work after 
he was twelve years of age. In those days we 
were all poor, and it took hard knocks to get on. 
He worked clearing the fields yonder with his 
brother, and then cut cordwood and did other 
farm labor to get the necessaries of life for his 
mother and sisters. 

"His experience upon the canal was a severe one, 
but perhaps useful. I can remember the winter 
when he came home after the summer's service 
there. He had the chills all that fall and winter, 
yet he would shake, and get his lessons at home ; 
go over to the school and recite, and thus keep up 
with his class. The next spring found him weak 
from constant ague. Yet he intended to return to 
the canal. Here came the turning point in his life. 
Mr. Bates, who taught the school, pleaded with 
him not to do so, and said that, if he would con- 
tinue in school until the next fall, he could get a 
certificate. I received my certificate about the 
same time. The next year we went to the semi- 
nary at Chester, only twelve miles distant. Here 
our books were furnished us, and we cooked our 
own victuals. We lived upon a dollar a week 
each. Our diet was strong, but very plain ; mush 
and molasses, pork and potatoes. Saturdays we 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 365 

took our axes and went into the woods and cut 
cordwood ; during vacations we labored in the har- 
vest field, or taught a district school, as we could. 
Yonder," said he, pointing off toward a beautiful 
valley, " about two miles distant stands the school- 
house where Garfield first taught school. He got 
twelve dollars a month and boarded around. I also 
taught school in a neighboring town. You see," con- 
tinued the farmer, "that the general and myself were 
very close to one another from the time either of 
us could lisp until he became President. He visited 
me here just before election, and looked with grati- 
fication upon that pole yonder and its flag, erected 
bv his neighbors and kinsmen. He wandered over 
the fields he himself had helped clear, and pointed 
out to me trees, from the limbs of which he had 
shot squirrel after squirrel, and beneath the 
branches of which he had played and worked in 
the years of his infancy and boyhood. 

M I forgot to say that one of General Garfield's 
striking characteristics while he was growing up 
was that, when he saw a boy in the class excel 
him in anything, he never gave up until he reached 
the same standard, and even went beyond it. It 
got to be known that no scholar could be ahead of 
him. Our association as men has been almost as 
close as that of boys, although not as constant. 
The general never forgot his neighbors or less for- 
tunate kinsmen, and often visited us, as we did 
him. 



366 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

"Just before he was inaugurated I had a conver* 
sation with him, which impressed me more than 
any other talk of our lives. He said : ' Henry, I 
approach the duties of the Presidency with much 
reluctance. I had thought that at some future 
time it might be possible for me to aspire to that 
position, but I had been elected to the Senate, 
and should have preferred to serve the six years 
in that body to which my own State people had 
elected me. It would have been six years of com- 
parative rest, for service in the Senate is much 
easier than in the House. I hope I may discharge 
the duties of the Presidency with satisfaction. 
There is one thing, however, that distresses me 
more than all else. All my life I have been mak- 
ing friends, and I have a great many sincere ones. 
But from the hour I assume the Presidency I must 
necessarily begin making enemies. Any man who 
wants an office and does not get it, will feel him- 
self aa - 2i'ievcd.' Our conversation at this time 
was long and earnest, and seemed like returning 
to the days when Ave were schoolboys together." 

Garfield was made a Mason in Magnolia Lodge, 
No. 20, at Columbus, Nov. 22, 1861, while he was 
commander at Camp Chase. His affiliation at the 
time of his death was with Pentalpha Lodge, Xo. 
23, and Columbia Commandery, No. 2, Knights 
Templars, at Washington, D. C. Suitar says 
that he was the eighth Mason, but the first Knight 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 367 

Templar, "who was ever honored with the Presi- 
dency. He was a true and courteous knight, and 
was not only an earnest supporter, but a charter 
member of Pentalpha Lodge. After his election to 
the Presidency, his commandery sought to express 
their esteem for him by attending the inauguration, 
and, although the Masonic law forbids any inter- 
ference with or participation in politics, the 
occasion was regarded by the right eminent grand 
commander as sufficiently important and devoid of 
partisan coloring to grant the desired permission 
for five platoons of sixteen knights each to attend 
President Garfield. On the 19th of July, 1881, 
he was elected an honorary member of Hansel- 
maim Commandery, No. 16, at Cincinnati, and 
they sent him handsomely engraved resolutions of 
sympathy, which were brought to his personal 
notice during his sickness, to which he appro- 
priately replied through his private secretary. 



368 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE 



CHAPTER XLVLT. 

Poems in Memory of Garfield, by Longfellow. — George Parsons 
Lathrop. — From London Sjiectator. — Oliver Wendell Holmes. — 
N. Bernard Carpenter. — John Boyle O'Beilly. — Joaquin Miller. 
M. J. Savage. — Julia Ward Howe. — Bose Terry Cooke. — Prize 
Ode. — Kate Tannett Woods. 

To the tributes we have already given, we add 
a few of the many fine poems published in memory 
of the martyred President. 



PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 

"E venni dal martirio a questa pace." 

These words the poet heard in Paradise, 
Uttered by one who, bravely dying here, 
In the true faith, was living in that sphere, 

Where the Celestial Cross of sacrifice 

Spread its protecting arms athwart the skies; 
And, set thereon, like jewels crystal clear, 
The souls magnanimous, that knew not fear, 

Flashed their effulgence on his dazzled eyes. 

Ah, me! how dark the discipline of pain, 
Were not the suffering followed by the sense 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 369 

Of infinite rest and infinite release ! 
This is our consolation ; and again 

A great soul cries to us in our suspense : 
"I come from martyrdom unto this peace!" 
Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 26, 1881. 

The Independent. 



GARFIELD, PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE. 

(Died Sept. 19, 1881.) 

What is this silence, that calls? 

What is this deafness that hears? 
The silence is Death. Like a voice it falls ; 

It rings in the heedless ears 

That never shall hearken again 

To the words of our blame or praise, 

Nor the low-hushed moan of a nation's pain 
As it rolls through the darkened days ! 

And the motionless body must yield 
To the spell of that hushed command. 

Oh, that one of us, dying, had been the shield 
To save that life for our land ! 

Man that was trusted.of men — 

Brave, and not fearing to die 
More than to face life's meanness, when 

It clamored its partisan lie ! 

Though you leave us, we lose you not! 

In the Republic you live 
Sacred, and part of its deathless lot, 

For whose life your life you give. 



370 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Garfield — the name so plain, 

The name Ave knew so well! — 
The name we shall never forget again, 

Of the man who for honesty fell! 

Like another Winkelried, 

You drew to yourselves the spears 
Of tyrannous hate, though yourself must bleed; 
And left us — our pride and our tears. 

Legacy meet and rare, 

Of one who dared to he pure! 
In the hearts of the people who love what is fair, 

That precious renown shall endure. 

O sorrow that falls like a stone 

In the midst of the calm of our peace, 

As the waves of pity around you have grown, 
So may our truth increase ! 

George Parsons Lathrop. 
In England, Sept. 20, 1881. 

New York Tribune. 



PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

The hush of the sick-room: the muffled tread; 

Fond, questioning eye; mute lip, and listening ear; 

Where wife and children watch 'twixt hope and fear, 
A father's, husband's living-dying bed! — 
The hush of a great nation, when its head 

Lies stricken ! Lo! along the streets he's borne, 

Pale, through rank'd crowds, this gray September niorn, 
'Mid straining eyes, sad brows unbonneted, 
And reverent speechlessness! — a " people's voice! " 





£<!&<- 




JAMES A. GARFIELD. 371 

Nay, but a people's silence! through the soul 
Of the wide world its subtler echoes roll, 
O brother nation ! England for her part 
Is with thee: God willing, she whose heart 
Throbbed with thy pain shall with thy joy rejoice. 

Sept. 6, 1881. 

London Spectator. 



AFTER THE BURIAL. 

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 



Fallen with autumn's falling leaf, 
Ere yet his summer's noon was past, 

Our friend, our guide, our trusted chief, — 
What words can match a woe so vast? 

And whose the chartered claim to speak 
The sacred grief where all have part, 

When sorrow saddens every cheek, 
And broods in every aching heart? 

Yet nature prompts the burning phrase 
That thrills the hushed and shrouded hall, 

The loud lament, the sorrowing praise, 
The silent tear that love lets fall. 

In loftiest verse, in lowliest rhyme, 

Shall strive unblamed the minstrel choir, - 

The singers of the new-born time, 

And trembling age with outworn lyre. 

No room for pride, no place for blame — 
We fling our blossoms on the grave, 

Pale, scentless, faded, — all we claim, 
This only, — what we had we gave. 



372 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Ah, could the grief of all who mourn 
Blend in one voice its bitter cry, 

The wail to heaven's high arches borne 
Would echo through the caverned sky. 



O happiest land whose peaceful choice 
Fills with a breath its empty throne ! 

God, speaking through thy people's voice, 
Has made that voice for once his own. 

No angry passion shakes the State 

Whose weary servant seeks for rest, — 

And who could fear that scowling hate 
Would strike at that unguarded breast? 

He stands; unconscious of his doom, 
In manly strength, erect, serene, — 

Around him summer spreads her bloom : 
He falls, — what horror clothes the scene ! 

How swift the sudden flash of woe 

Where all was bright as childhood's dream! 
As if from heaven's ethereal bow 

Had leaped the lightning's arrowy gleam. 

Blot the foul deed from history's page, — 

Let not the all-betraying sun 
Blush for the day that stains an age 

When murder's blackest wreath was won. 



in. 

Pale on his couch the sufferer lies, 
The weary battle-ground of pain ; 

Love tends his pillow, science tries 
Her every art, alas! in vain. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 373 

The strife endures how long! how long! 

Life, death, seem balanced in the scale ; 
While round his bed a viewless throng 

Awaits each morrow's changing tale. 

In realms the desert ocean parts, 

What myriads watch with tear-filled eyes, 

His pulse-beats echoing in their hearts, 
His breathings counted with their sighs ! 

Slowly the stores of life are spent, 

Yet hope still battles with despair, — 
Will heaven not yield when knees are bent? 

Answer, O Thou that hearest prayer! 

But silent is the brazen sky, — 

On sweeps the meteor's threatening train, — 
Unswerving Nature's mute reply, 

Bound in her adamantine chain. 

Not ours the verdict to decide 

Whom death shall claim or skill shall save : 
The hero's life though Heaven denied, 

It gave our land a martyr's grave. 

Nor count the teaching vainly sent 

How human hearts their griefs may share, — 

The lesson woman's love has lent 

What hope may do, what faith can bear ! 

Farewell ! the leaf-strewn earth enfolds 
Our stay, our pride, our hopes, our fears ; 

And autumn's golden sun beholds 
A nation bowed, a world in tears. 

Boston Globe. 



374 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

SONNET — JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

BY REV. H. BERNARD CARPENTER. 

Lo ! as a pure, white statue wrought with care 

By some strong hand, which moulds from Life and Death 
Beauty more beautiful than blood or breath, 

And straight 'tis veiled ; and, whilst all men repair 

To see this wonder in the workshops, there! 
Behold, it gleams unveiled to curious eye 
Far-seen, high-placed in Art's pale gallery, 

Where all stand mute before a work so fair: 

So he, our man of men, in vision stands, 
With Pain and Patience crowned imperial ; 

Death's veil has dropped ; far from this house of woe 

He hears one love-chant out of many lands, 
Whilst from his mystic noon-height he lets fall 
His shadow o'er these hearts that bleed below. 

Sept. 26, 1881. 

The Independent. 



MIDNIGHT. 

September 19, 1881. 
BY JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. 

Once in a lifetime we may see the veil 

Tremble and lift, that hides symbolic things : 

The spirit's vision, when the senses fail, 

Sweeps the weird meaning that the outlook brings. 

Deep in the midst of turmoil it may be, — 
A crowded street, a forum, or a field, — 

The soul inverts the telescope, to see 
To-day's event in future years revealed. 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 375 

Back from the present, let us look at Rome; 

Now, see what Cato meant, what Brutus said. 
Hark! the Athenians welcome Cimon home! 

How clear they are, those glimpses of the dead! 

But we, hard toilers, we who plan and weave 
Through common days the web of common life, 

What word, alas ! shall teach us to receive 
The mystic meaning of our peace and strife? 

Whence comes our symbol ? Surely God must speak ; 

No less than he can make us heed or pause : 
Self-seekers we, too busy or too weak 

To search beyond our daily lives and laws. 

'Gainst things occult our earth-turned eyes rebel ; 

No sound of destiny can reach our ears ; 
We have no time for dreaming — Hark! a knell, — 

A knell at midnight! All the nation hears! 

A second grievous throb! The dreamers wake; 

The merchant's soul forgets his goods and ships ; 
The humble workmen from their slumbers break; 

The women raise their eyes with quivering lips; 

The miner rests upon his pick to hear; 

The printer's type stops midway from the case; 
The solemn sound has reached the roisterer's ear, 

And brought the shame and sorrow to his face.. 

Again it booms! Oh, mystic veil, upraise! — 
Behold, 'tis lifted! On the darkness drawn, 

A picture, lined with light! The people's gaze, 
From sea to sea, beholds it till the dawn : 

A death-bed scene, — a sinking sufferer lies, 
Their chosen ruler, crowned with love and pride; 

Around, his counsellors, with streaming eyes; 
His wife, heart-broken, kneeling by his side : 



376 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Death's shadow holds her; it will pass too soon; 

She weeps in silence — hitterest of tears ; 
He wanders softly — Nature's kindest boon, 

And as he whispers all the country hears. 

For him the pain is past, the struggle ends : 
His cares and honors fade : his younger life 

In peaceful Mentor comes, with dear old friends ; 
His mother's arms take home his sweet young wife; 

He stands among the students, tall and strong, 
And teaches truths republican and grand : 

He moves — ah, pitiful ! — he sweeps along, 
O'er fields of carnage leading his command! 

He speaks to crowded faces ; round him surge 

Thousands and millions of excited men: 
He hears them cheer, sees some great light emerge, 

Is borne as on a tempest : then — ah, then ! 

The fancies fade, the fever's work is past; 

A moment's pang — then recollections thrill: 
He feels the faithful lips that kiss their last, 

His heart beats once in answer, and is still! 

The curtain falls ; but hushed, as if afraid, 

The people wait, tear-stained, with heaving breast; 

'Twill rise again, they know, when he is laid 
With Freedom, in the Capitol, at rest. 

Once more they see him, in his coffin there, 
As Lincoln lay in blood-stained martyr sleep; 

The stars and stripes across his honored bier, 
While Freedom and Columbia o'er him weep. 

Boston Globe. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 377 

REJOICE. 

BY JOAQUIN MILLER. 

" Bear me out of the battle, for lo! lam sorely wounded." 



:- 

From out my deep, wide-bosomed West, 

Where unnamed heroes hew the way 
For worlds to follow, with stern zest, — 

Where gnarled old maples make array, 
Deep-scarred from red men gone to rest, — 

Where pipes the quail, where squirrels play 
Through tossing trees, with nuts for toy, — 

A boy steps forth, clear-eyed and tall, 
A bashful boy, a soulful boy, 

Yet comely as the sons of Saul, — 
A boy, all friendless, poor, unknown, 
Yet heir-apparent to a throne. 



n. 

Lo! Freedom's bleeding sacrifice ! 

So like some tall oak tempest-blown 
Beside the storied stream he lies 

Now at the last, pale-browed and prone. 
A nation kneels with streaming eyes, 

A nation supplicates the throne, 
A nation holds him by the hand, 

A nation sobs aloud at this : 
The only dry eyes in the land 

Now at the last, I think, are his. 

Why, we should pray, God knoweth best, 
That this grand, patient soul should rest. 



378 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



III. 

The -world is round. The wheel has run 

Full circle. Now behold a grave 
Beneath the old loved trees is done. 

The druid oaks lift up, and wave 
A solemn welcome back. The brave 

Old maples murmur, every one, 
" Receive him, Earth! " In centre land, 

As in the centre of each heart, 
As in the hollow of God's hand, 

The coffin sinks. And with it part 
All party hates! Now, not in vain 
He bore his peril and hard pain. 



Therefore, I say, rejoice! I say, 

The lesson of his life was much, — 
This boy that won, as in a clay, 

The world's heart utterly; a touch 
Of tenderness and tears ; the page 

Of history grows rich from such; 
His name the nation's heritage, — 

But oh! as some sweet angel's voice 
Spake this brave death that touched us all, 

Therefore, I say. Rejoice! rejoice! • 
Run high the flags! Put by the pall! 
Lo ! all is for the best for all ! 

Boston Globe. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 379 



J. A. G. 

HDMANITAS REGNANS. 
BY M. J. SAVAGE. 

"With finger on lip, and breath bated 
With an eager and sad desire, 

The world stood hushed, as it waited 
For the click of the fateful wire, — 

"Better : " and civilization 

Breathed freer and hoped again ; 

" Worse : " and through every nation 
Went throbbing a thrill of pain. 

A cry at midnight! and listening — 
"Bead! " tolled out the bells of despair; 
And millions of eyelids were glistening 
As sobbed the sad tones on the air. 



But who is he toward whom all eyes are turning, 
And who is he for whom all hearts are yearning? 

What is the threat at which earth holds its breath 
While one lone man a duel fights with death? 



No thrones are hanging in suspense ; 

No kingdoms totter to their fall. 
Peace, with her gentle influence, 

Is hovering over all. 



380 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

"lis just one man at Elberon, 

Who waiteth day by day, 
Whose patience all our hearts hath won 

As ebbs his life away. 

His birthday waked no cannon-boom; 

No purple round him hung ; 
A backwoods cabin gave him room; 

And storms his welcome sung. 

He seized the sceptre of that king 

Who treads a freehold sod ; 
He wore upon his brow that ring 

That crowns a son of God. 

By his own might he built a throne, 

With no unhuman arts, 
And by his manhood reigned alone 

O'er fifty millions hearts. 

Thus is humanity's long dream, 
Its highest, holiest hope begun 

To harden into fact, and gleam 
A city 'neath the sun — 

A city, not like that which came 
In old-time vision from the skies ; 

But wrought by man through blood and flame, 
From solid earth to rise, — 

Man's city ; the ideal reign 

Where every human right hath place ; 

Where blood, nor birth, nor priest again 
Shall bind the weary race, — 

In which no Icing but man shall be. 

'Twas this that thrilled with loving pain 
The heart of all the earth, as he 

Died by the sobbing main. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 381 

For, mightiest ruler of the earth, 

He was the mightiest, not because 
Of priestly touch, or blood, or birth, 

But by a people's laws. 



O Garfield! brave and patient soul! 
Long as the tireless tides shall roll 
About the Long Branch beaches, where 
Thy life went out upon the air, 
So long thy land, from sea to sea, 
Will hold thy manhood's legacy. 

There were two parties : there were those, 
In thine own party, called thy foes; 
There was a North ; there was a South, 
Ere blazed the assassin's pistol-mouth. 

But lo! thy bed became a throne : 
And as the hours went by, at length 

The weakness of thine arm alone 

Grew mightier than thy strongest strength. 

No petulant murmur ; no vexed cry 
Of balked ambitions; but a high, 
Grand patience ! And thy whisper blent 
In one heart all the continent. 
To-day there are no factions left, 
But one America bereft. 



O Garfield! fortunate in death wast thou, 
Though at the opening of a grand career! 

Thou wast a meteor flashing on the brow 
Of skies political, where oft appear, 



382 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

And disappear, so many stars of promise. Then, 
While all men watched thy high course, wondering 

If thou wouldst upward sweep, or fall again, 

Thee from thine orbit mad hands thought to fling; 

And lo! the meteor, with its fitful light, 
All on a sudden stood, and was a star, — 

A radiance fixed, to glorify the night 

There where the world's proud constellations are. 

Boston Globe. 



J. A. G. 

BY JULIA WARD HOWE. 



Our soitow sends its shadow round the earth. 
So brave, so true! A hero from his birth! 
The plumes of Empire moult, in mourning draped, 
The lightning's message by our tears is shaped. 

Life's vanities that blossom for an hour 
Heap on his funeral car their fleeting flower. 
Commerce forsakes her temples, blind and dim, 
And pours her tardy gold, to homage him. 

The notes of grief to age familiar grow 
Before the sad privations all must know; 
But the majestic cadence which we hear 
To-day, is new in either hemisphere. 

What crown is this, high hung and hard to reach, 
Whose glory so outshines our laboring speech? 
The crown of Honor, pure and unbetrayed; 
He wins the spurs who bears the knightly aid. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 383 

While royal babes incipient empire hold, 

And, for bare promise, grasp the sceptre's gold, 

This man such service to his age did bring 

That they who knew him servant hailed him king. 

In poverty his infant couch was spread ; 
His tender hands soon wrought for daily bread ; 
But from the cradle's bound his willing feet 
The errand of the moment went to meet. 

When learning's page unfolded to his view, 
The quick disciple straight a teacher grew; 
And, when the fight of freedom stirred the land, . 
Armed was his heart and resolute his hand. 

Wise in the council, stalwart in the field ! 
Such rank supreme a workman's hut may yield. 
His onward steps like measured marbles show, 
Climbing the height where God's great flame doth glow. 

Ah! Rose of joy, that hid'st a thorn so sharp! 
Ah! Golden woof, that meet'st a severed warp! 
Ah! Solemn comfort, that the stars rain down! 
The hero's garland his, the martyr's crown! 



Newpokt, Sept. 25, 1881. 



Boston Globe. 



HOME AT LAST. 

BY ROSE TERRY COOK. 

So long he prayed to come, 
Lingered so long away; 
Now, with the muffled beat of drum 
And solemn dirges, at last he hath come, 
Come home to stay. 



384 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Yes, he has come to stay ! 
The homesick heart is still, 
The hurried pulse and the aching breast 
Now in the lap of home shall rest ; 
He has his will. 

No more of heat or chill, 

No frost or evil blight; 
The work of living a life is done, 
The long fight over, the victory won, 

He sleeps to-night. 

Silent is home's delight, 
Peaceful its tranquil cheer ; 
Here is the cool, unbroken calm, 
The soft wind's breath and the fir-tree's balm, 
All, all are here. 

He and the dying year 
Lie in their slumber deep. 
Safe in the heart of home at last, 
Anxious slumber nor grievous past 
Shall stir his sleep. 

Woe for us to keep, 

For him a joy to last! 
Woe for the land in years to come, 
Wail, O trumpet! and mutter, drum! 

The dead comes home at last! 

Winsted, Conn. 

The Independent. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 385 



AN ODE ON THE ASSASSINATION. 

[A prize offered by a London weekly for the best poem on the 
attempted assassination of President Garfield was awarded to the 
author of the following.] 

Veil now, O Liberty! thy blushing Face, 
At the fell deed that thrills a startled world; 

While fair Columbia weeps in dire disgrace, 
And bows in sorrow o'er the banner furled. 

No graceless tyrant falls by vengeance here, 
'Neath the wild justice of a secret knife; 

No red Ambition ends its grim career, 
And expiates its horrors with its life. 

Not here does rash Revenge misguided burn, 
To free a nation with the assassin's dart; 

Or roused Despair in angry madness turn, 
And tear its freedom from a despot's heart. 

But where blest Liberty so widely reigns, 
And Peace and Plenty mark a smiling land, 

Here the mad wretch its fair white record stains, 
And blurs its beauties with a " bloody hand." 

Here the elect of millions, and the pride 

Of those who own his mild and peaceful rule, — 

Here virtue sinks and yields the crimson tide, ' 
Beneath the vile unreason of a fool ! 



386 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

FATHERLESS. 

BT KATE TANNATT WOODS. 

Over the land.the tidings sped, 

"The leader has fallen, our chief is dead." 

And over the land a cry of pain 

Began and ended with Garfield's name. 

"He is dead," said each, with tearful eye: 
" So strong, so true, why must he die? " 
And the children paused that autumn day 
To talk of the good man passed away. 

Over the land when the tidings came, 
Even the babies lisped his name; 
And youthful eyes grew sad that day 
For the fatherless children far away. 

Fatherless, — word with a life of pain ; 
Fatherless, — never complete again; 
Always to miss, and never to know, 
The joy of his greeting, — his love below. 

Missing the cheerful smile each day, 
Missing his care in studies or play, 
Missing each hour, each day, each year, 
The sound of a voice so tender and dear. 



Fatherless ! only the children can tell 
The sound of that dreary funeral knell ; 
For only they, in all coming years, 
Find the roses of youth bedewed with tears. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 387 

Over the land from shore to shore, 

The prayer of the children is echoed o'er, — 

" God of the fatherless, help we pray, 

The wards of our mourning nation to-day." 

„ Boston Globe. 

Salem, Sept. 24, 1881. 



388 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Currency. — Lincoln. — Forms of Government. — The Draft. — Sla- 
very. — Human Progress. — Independence. — Republicanism and 
Democracy. — The Rebellion. — Protection and Free Trade. — 
Radicalism. — Education. — Reconstruction. — William H. Sew- 
ard. — Fourteenth Amendment. — Classical Studies. — History. — 
Law. — Liberty. — Statistical Science. — Poverty. — Growth. — 
Ethics. —The Salary Clause. — The Railway Problem. —Church 
and State. — Courage. — Art. — Literature. — Character. — Public 
Opinion. — The Revenue. — Statesmanship. — Science. — Truth. 
Elements of Success. — Suffrage. — Gustave Schleicher. — Appeal 
to Young Men. — The Union. — Inaugural. 

[Speech on the Currency. — 46th Congress.] 

No man can doubt that within recent years, and 
notably within recent months, the leading thinkers 
of the civilized world have become alarmed at the 
attitude of the two precious metals in relation to 
each other ; and many leading thinkers are becom- 
ing clearly of the opinion that, by some wise, judi- 
cious arrangement, both the precious metals must 
be kept in service for the currency of the world. 
And this opinion has been very rapidly gaining 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 389 

ground within the past six months to such fin ex- 
tent, that England, which for more than half a cen- 
tury has stoutly adhered to the single gold stand- 
ard, is now seriously meditating how she may 
harness both these metals to the monetary car of 
the world. And yet outside of this capital, I do 
not this day know of a single great and recog- 
nized advocate of bi-metallic money who regards 
it prudent or safe for any nation largely to increase 
the coinage standard of silver at the present time 
beyond the limits fixed by existing laws. . . . Yet 
we, who during the past two years have coined far 
more silver dollars than we ever before coined 
since the foundation of the Government ; ten times 
as many as we coined during half a century of our 
national life ; are to-day ignoring and defying the 
enlightened universal opinion of bi-metallism, and 
sayin<y that the United States, single-handed and 
alone, can enter the field and settle the mighty 
issue. We are justifying the old proverb that 
"fools rush in where angels fear to tread." It 
is sheer madness, Mr. Speaker. I once saw a 
do<r- on a great stack of hay that had been floated 
out into the wild overflowed stream of a river, 
with its stack-pen and foundation still holding to- 
gether, but ready to be wrecked. For a little 
while the animal appeared to be perfectly happy. 
His hay-stack was there, and the pen around it, 
and he seemed to think the world bright and his 



390 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

happiness secure, while the sunshine fell softly on 
his head and hay. But by and by he began to 
discover that the house and the barn, and their 
surroundings were not all there, as they were 
when he went to sleep the night before ; and he 
began to see that he could not command all the 
prospect, and peacefully dominate the scene as he 
had done before. 

So with this House. We assume to manage this 
mighty question which has been launched on the 
wild current that sweeps over the whole world, 
and we bark from our legislative hay-stacks as 
though we commanded the whole world. In the 
name of common sense and sanity, let us take 
some account of the flood ; let us understand that 
a deluge means something, and try if we can to 
get our bearings before we undertake to settle the 
affairs of all mankind by a vote of this House. 
To-day we are coining one-third of all the silver 
that is being coined in the round world. China is 
coining another third ; and all other nations are 
using the remaining one-third for subsidiary coin. 
And if we want to take rank with China, and part 
company with all of the civilized nations of the 
Western world, let us pass this bill, and then "bay 
the moon " as we float down the whirling channel 
to take our place among the silver mono-metallists 
of Asia. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



391 



[Letter to B, A. Kimball.] 

Columbus, Ohio, February 16, 1861. 

Mr. Lincoln has come and gone. The rush of 
people to see him at every point on the route is 
astonishing. The reception here was plain and 
republican, but very impressive. He has been 
raising a respectable pair of dark-brown whiskers, 
which decidedly improve his looks, but no ap- 
pendage can ever render him remarkable for 
beauty. On the whole, I am greatly pleased with 
him. He clearly shows his want of culture, and 
the marks of western life ; but there is no touch 
of affectation in him, and he has a peculiar power 
of impressing you that he is frank, direct, and 
thorouahly honest. His remarkable good sense, 
simple" and condensed style of expression, and 
evident marks of indomitable will, give me great 
hopes for the country. And, after the long, dreary 
period of Buchanan's weakness and cowardly im- 
becility, the people will hail a strong and vigorous 
leader. 

[To the Same.] 

A monarchy is more easily overthrown than a 
rebublic, because its sovereignty is concentrated, 
and a single blow, if it be powerful enough, will 
crush it. 



392 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

As an abstract theory, the doctrine of Free 
Trade seems to be universally true, but as a ques- 
tion of practicability, under a government like 
ours, the protective system seems to be indis- 
pensable. 

[Speech on a Draft Bill, June 21, 1864.] 

It has never been my policy to conceal a truth 
merely because it is unpleasant. It may be well 
to smile in the face of danger, but it- is neither 
well nor wise to let danger approach unchallenged 
and unannounced. A brave nation, like a brave 
man, desires to see and measure the perils which 
threaten it. It is the right of the American people 
to know the necessities of the Republic when they 
are called upon to make sacrifices for it. It is this 
lack of confidence in ourselves and the people, 
this timid waiting for events to control us when 
they should obey us, that makes men oscillate 
between hope and fear ; now in the sunshine of the 
hill-tops, and now in the gloom and shadows of 
the valley. To such men the bulletin which 
heralds success in the army gives exultation and 
high , hope ; the evening dispatch, announcing 
some slight disaster to our advancing columns, 
brings gloom and depression. Hope rises and falls 
by the accidents of war, as the mercury of the ther- 
mometer changes by the accidents of heat and 
cold. Let us rather take for our symbol the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 393 

sailor's barometer, which faithfully forewarns him 
of the tempest, and gives him unerring promise of 
serene skies and peaceful seas. 

[Speech in New York City, 1865, on the Assassination of 
President Lincoln.] 

By this last act of madness it seems as though 
the Rebellion had determined that the President 
of the soldiers should go with the soldiers who 
have laid down their lives on the battle-field. 
They slew the noblest and gentlest heart that ever 
put down a rebellion upon this earth. In taking 
that life they have left "the iron" hand of the people 
to tall upon them. Love is on the front of the 
throne of God, but justice and judgment, with 
inexorable dread, follow behind ; and where law 
is slighted and mercy despised, when they have 
rejected those who would be their best friends, 
then comes justice with her hoodwinked eye, and 
with the sword and scales. From every gaping 
wound of your dead chief, let the voice go up for 
the people to sec to it that our house is swept and 
garnished. I hasten to say one thing more. For 
mere vengeance I would do nothing. This nation 
is too Great to look for mere revenue. But for 
security of the future I would do everything. 



394 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

[Speech in Congress on the Constitutional Amendment to 
abolish slavery, January 13, 1865.] 

On the 21st day of June, 1788, our national 
sovereignty was lodged, by the people, in the 
Constitution of the United States, where it still 
resides, and for its preservation our armies are 
to-day in the field. In all these stages of devel- 
opment, from colonial dependence to full-orbed 
nationality, the people, not the States, have been 
omnipotent. They have abolished, established, 
altered, and amended, as suited their sovereign 
pleasure. Theij made the Constitution. That 
great charter tells its own story best : 

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a 
more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the gen- 
eral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves 
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 
for the United States of America." 

That Constitution, with its amendments, is the 
latest and the greatest utterance of American 
sovereignty. The hour is now at hand when that 
majestic sovereign, for the benignant purpose of 
securing still farther the f blessings of liberty,' is 
about to put forth another oracle ; is about to de- 
clare that universal freedom shall be the supreme 
law of the land. Show me the power that is 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 395 

authorized to forbid it. . . . They made the Con- 
stitution what 't is. They could have made it 
otherwise then : they can make it otherwise now. 

In the very crisis of our fate, God brought us 
face to face with the alarming truth, that we must 
lose our own freedom, or grant it to the slave. 
In the extremity of our distress, we called upon 
the black man to help us save the Republic, and 
amidst the very thunder of battle we made a cov- 
enant with him, sealed both with his blood and 
ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, that when the 
nation was redeemed, he should be free, and share 
with us the glories and blessings of freedom. In 
the solemn words of the great proclamation of 
emancipation, we not only declared the slaves for- 
ever free, but Ave pledged the faith of the nation 
"to maintain their freedom" — mark the words, "to 
maintain their freedom.'" The Omniscient witness 
will appear in judgment against us if we do not 
fulfil that covenant. Have we done it? Have 
we given freedom to the black man? What is 
freedom? Is it a mere negation? the bare privi- 
lege of not being chained, bought, and sold, 
branded, and scourged? If this be all, then free- 
dom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion, and it 
may well be questioned whether slavery were not 
better. 

But liberty is no negation. It is a substantive, 



396 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tangible reality. It is the realization of those im- 
perishable truths of the Declaration, "that all men 
are created equal/' that the sanction of all just 
government is " the consent of the governed." 
Can these truths be realized until each man has 
u right 10 be heard on all matters relating to 
himself? 

Mr. Speaker, we did more than merely to 
break off the chains of the slaves. The abolition 
of slavery added four million citizens to the Re- 
public. By the decision of the Supreme Court, 
by the decision of the attorney-general, by the 
decision of all the departments of our govern- 
ment, those men made free are, by the act of free- 
dom, made citizens. 

If they are to be disfranchised, if they are to 
have no voice in determining the conditions under 
which they are to live and labor, what hope have 
they for the future? It will rest with their late 
masters, whose treason they aided to thwart, to 
determine whether negroes shall be permitted to 
hold property, to enjoy the benefits of education, 
to enforce contracts, to have access to the courts 
of justice — in short, to enjoy any of those rights 
which give vitality and value to freedom. "Who can 
fail to foresee the ruin and misery that await this 
race to whom the vision of freedom has been pre- 
sented only to be withdrawn, leaving them with- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 397 

out even the aid which the master's selfish, com- 
mercial interest in their life and service formerly 
afforded them? Will these negroes, remembering 
the battle-fields on which nearly two hundred 
thousand of their number have so bravely fought, 
and many thousands have heroically died, submit 
to oppression as tamely and peaceably as in the 
davs of slavery? Under such conditions there 
could be no peace, no security, no prosperity. 
The spirit of slavery is still among us ; it must be 
utterly destroyed before we shall be safe. 

Mr. Speaker, I know of nothing more dan- 
gerous to a Republic than to put into its very 
midst four million people, stripped of every attri- 
bute of citizenship, robbed of the right of repre- 
sentation, but bound to pay taxes to the govern- 
ment.'" If they can endure it, we can not. The 
murderer is to be pitied more than the murdered 
man ; the robber more than the robbed. And we 
who defraud four million citizens of their rights 
are injuring ourselves vastly more than we are 
injuring the black man whom we rob. 

Throughout the whole web of national existence 
we trace the golden thread of human progress to- 
ward a higher and better estate. 

The life and light of a nation are inseparable. 



398 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

We confront the clangers of suffrage by the 
blessings of universal education. 

We should do nothing inconsistent with the 
spirit and genius of our institutions. We should 
do nothing for revenge, but everything for secu- 
rity : nothing for the past ; everything for the 
present and future. 

There are two classes of forces whose action and 
reaction determine the condition of a nation — the 
forces of Repression and Expression. The one 
acts from without ; limits, curbs, restrains. The 
other acts from within ; expands, enlarges, propels. 
Constitutional forms, statutory limitations, con- 
servative customs, belong to the first. The free 
play of individual life, opinion, and action, belong 
to the second. If these forces be happily balanced, 
if there be a wise conservation and correlation of 
both, a nation may enjoy the double blessing of 
progress and permanence. 

It matters little what may be the forms of Na- 
tional institutions, if the life, freedom, and growth 
of society are secured. 

There is no horizontal stratification of society in 
this country like the rocks in the earth, that hold 
one class down below forcvermore, and let another 
come to the surface to stay there forever. Our 
stratification is like the ocean, where every indi- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 399 

vidual drop is free to move, and where from the 
sternest depths of the mighty deep any drop may 
come up to glitter on the highest wave that rolls. 

The Union and the Congress must share the 
same fate. They must rise or fall together. 

Real political issues cannot be manufactured by 
the leaders of political parties, and real ones can- 
not be evaded by political parties. The real polit- 
ical issues of the day declare themselves and come 
out of the depth of that deep which we call public 
opinion. The nation has a life of its own as dis- 
tinctly defined as the life of an individual. The 
signs of its growth and the periods of its develop- 
ment make issues declare themselves ; and the 
man or the political party that does not discover 
this, has not learned the character of the nation's 
life. 

[Reply to Mr Lamar, in a Committee of the Whole.] 

Mr. Chairman, great ideas travel slowly, and 
for a time noiselessly, as the gods, whose feet 
were shod with wool. Our Avar of independence 
was a war of ideas, of ideas evolved out of two 
hundred years of slow and silent growth. When, 
one. hundred years ago, our fathers announced as 
self-evident truths the declaration that all men are 
created equal, and the only just power of govern- 
ments is derived from the consent of the governed, 



400 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

they uttered a doctrine that no nation had ever 
adopted, that not one kingdom on the earth then 
believed. Yet to our fathers it was so plain that 
they would not debate it. They announced it as 
a truth "self-evident." 

Whence came the immortal truths of the Dec- 
laration ? To me this was for years the riddle of 
our history. I have searched long and patiently 
through the books of the doctrinaires to find the 
germs from which the Declaration of Independence 
sprang. I find hints in Locke, in Hobbes, in Kous- 
seau, and Fenelon ; but they were only the hints 
of dreamers and philosophers. The great doc- 
trines of the Declaration germinated in the hearts 
of our fathers, and were developed under the new 
influences of this wilderness world, by the same 
subtile mystery which brings forth the rose from 
the germ of the rose-tree. Unconsciously to them- 
selves, the great truths were growing under the 
new conditions, until, like the century-plant, they 
blossomed into the matchless beauty of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, whose fruitage, increased 
and increasing, Ave enjoy to-day. 

It will not do, Mr. Chairman, to speak of the 
gigantic revolution through which we have lately 
passed as a thing to be adjusted and settled by a 
change of administration. It was cyclical, epochal, 
century -Avide, and to be studied in its broad and 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 401 

grand perspective — a revolution of even wider 
scope, so far as time is concerned, than the Revo- 
lution of 1776. We have been dealing with ele- 
ments and forces which have been at work on this 
continent more than two hundred and fifty years. 
I trust I shall be excused if I take a few moments 
to trace some of the leading phases of the great 
struggle. And in doing so, I beg gentlemen to 
see that the subject itself lifts us into a region 
where the individual sinks out of sight and is ab- 
sorbed in the mighty current of great events. It 
is not the occasion to award praise or .pronounce 
condemnation. In such a revolution men are like 
insects that fret and toss in the storm, but are 
swept onward by the resistless movements of ele- 
ments beyond their control. I speak of this revo- 
lution not to praise the men who aided it, or to 
censure the men who resisted it, but as a force to 
be studied, as a mandate to be obeyed. 

In the year 1620 there were planted upon this 
continent two ideas irreconcilably hostile to each 
other. Ideas are the great warriors of the world ; 
and a war that has no ideas behind it is simply 
brutality. The two ideas were landed, one at 
Plymouth Rock, from the Mayflower, and the other 
from a Dut ch brig at Jamestown , Virginia. One was 
the old doctrine of Luther, that private judgment, 
in politics as well as religion, is the right and duty 
of every man ; and the other, that capital should 

26 



402 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

own labor, that the negro had no rights of man- 
hood, and the white man might justly buy, own, 
and sell him and his offspring forever. Thus free- 
dom and equality on the one hand, and on the 
other the slavery of one race and the domination of 
another, were the two germs planted on this con- 
tinent. In our vast expanse of wilderness, for 
a long time, there was room for both ; and their 
advocates began the race across the continent, 
each developing the social and political institutions 
of their choice. Both had vast interests in com- 
mon ; and for a long time neither was conscious 
of the fatal antagonisms that were developing. 

For nearly two centuries there was no serious 
collision ; but when the continent began to till up, 
and the people began to jostle against each other ; 
when the Roundhead and the Cavalier came near 
enough to measure opinions, the irreconcilable 
character of the two doctrines began to appear. 
Many conscientious men studied the subject, and 
came to the belief that slavery was a crime, a sin, 
or, as Wesley said, ' the sum of all villanies.' 
This belief dwelt in small minorities for a long 
time. It lived in the churches and vestries, but 
later found its way into the civil and political 
organizations of the country, and finally found its 
way into this chamber. A few brave, clear-sighted, 
far-seemg men announced it here, a little more 
than a generation ago. A predecessor of mine, 



* JAMES A. GARFIELD. 403 

Joshua E. Giddings, following the lead of John 
Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, almost alone 
held up the banner on this floor, and from year to 
year comrades came to his side. Through evil 
and through good report he pressed the question 
upon the conscience of the nation, and bravely 
stood in his place in this House, until his white 
locks, like the plume of Henry of Navarre, showed 
where the battle of freedom raged most fiercely. 

And so the contest continued ; the supporters 
of slavery believing honestly and sincerely that 
slavery was a divine institution ; that it found its 
high sanctions in the living; oracles of God and in 
a wise political philosophy ; that it was justified 
by the necessities of their situation ; and that 
slave-holders were missionaries to the dark sons 
of Africa, to elevate and bless them. We are so 
far past the passions of that early time that we 
can now study the progress of the struggle as a 
great and inevitable development, without sharing 
in the crimination and recrimination that attended 
it. If both sides could have seen that it was a 
contest beyond their control ; if both parties could 
have realized the truth that " unsettled questions 
have no pity for the repose of nations," much less 
for the fate of political parties, the bitterness, the 
sorrow, the tears, and the blood might have been 
avoided. But we walked in the darkness, our 
paths obscured by the smoke of the conflict, each 



404 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES* OF 

following his own convictions through ever-increas- 
ing fierceness, until the debate culminated in " the 
last argument to which kings resort." 

This conflict of opinion was not merely one of 
sentimental feeling ; it involved our whole politi- 
cal system ; it gave rise to two radically different 
theories of the nature of our government ; the 
North believing and holding that we were a nation, 
the South insisting that we were only a confedera- 
tion of sovereign States, and insisting that each 
State had the right, at its own discretion, to break 
the Union, and constantly threatening secession 
where the full rights of slavery were not acknowl- 
edged. 

Thus the defence and aggrandizement of slavery, 
and the hatred of abolitionism, became not only 
the central idea of the Democratic party, but its 
master passion, — a passion intensified and in- 
flamed by twenty-five years of fierce political con- 
test, which had not only driven from its ranks all 
those who preferred freedom to slavery, but had 
absorbed all the extreme pro-slavery elements of 
the fallen Whig party. Over against this was 
arrayed the Republican party, asserting the broad 
doctrines of nationality and loyalty, insisting that 
no State had a right to secede, that secession was 
treason, and demanding that the institution of 
slavery should be restricted to the limits of the 
States where it already existed. But here and 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 405 

there many bolder and more radical thinkers de- 
clared, with Wendell Phillips, that there never 
could be union and peace, freedom and prosperity, 
until we were willing to see John Hancock under 
a black skin. 

Mr. Chairman, ought the Eepublican party to 
surrender its truncheon of command to the Democ- 
racy? The gentleman from Mississippi says, if 
this were England, the ministry Avould go out in 
twenty-four hours with such a state of things as we 
have here. Ah, yes ! that is an ordinary case of 
change of administration. But if this were Eng- 
land, what would she have done at the end of the 
war? England made one such mistake as the 
gentleman asks this country to make, when she 
threw away the achievements of the grandest man 
that ever trod her highway of power. Oliver 
Cromwell had overturned the throne of despotic 
power, and had lifted his country to a place of 
masterful greatness among the nations of the earth ; 
and when, after his death, his great sceptre was 
transferred to a weak though not unlineal hand, his 
country, in a moment of reactionary blindness, 
brought back the Stuarts. England did not re- 
cover from that folly until, in 1689, the Prince of 
Orange drove from her island the last of that weak 
and wicked line. Did she afterward repeat the 
blunder ? 



406 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

I am aware that there is a general disposition 
"to let by-gones be by-gones," and to judge of 
parties and of men, not by what they have been, 
but by what they are and what they propose. 

That view is part]}" just and partly erroneous. 
It is just and wise to bury resentments and an- 
imosities. It is erroneous in this, that parties have 
an organic life and spirit of their own — an individ- 
uality and character which outlive the men who 
compose them ; and the spirit and traditions of a 
party should be considered in determining their 
fitness for managing the affairs of a nation. 

I will close by calling your attention again to 
the great problem before us. Over this vast hori- 
zon of interests North and South, above all party 
prejudices and personal wrong-doing, above our 
battle hosts and our victorious cause, above all 
that we hoped for and won, or you hoped for and 
lost, is the grand, onward movement of the Re- 
public to perpetuate its glory, to save liberty alive, 
to preserve exact and equal justice to all, to pro- 
tect and foster all these priceless principles, until 
they shall have crystalized into the form of endur- 
ing law, and become inwrought into the life and 
the habits of our people. 

And, until these great results are accomplished, 
it is not safe to take one step backward. It is still 
more unsafe to trust interests of such measureless 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 407 

value in the hands of an organization whose mem- 
bers have never comprehended their epoch, have 
never been in sympathy with its great movements, 
who have resisted every step of its progress, and 
whose principal function has been 

" ' To lie in cold obstruction ' 
across the pathway of the nation. 

" No, no, gentlemen, our enlightened and pa- 
triotic people will not follow such leaders in the 
rearward march. Their myriad faces are turned 
the other way ; and along their serried lines still 
rings the cheering cry, ' Forward ! till our great 
work is fully and worthily accomplished.' " 

[From a Speech in Congress, 1866.] 
Duties should be so high that our manufacturers 
can fairly compete with the foreign product, but 
not so high as to enable them to drive out the for- 
eign article, enjoy a monopoly of the trade, and 
regulate the price as they please. This is my doc- 
trine of protection. ... I am for a protection that 
leads to ultimate free trade. I am for that free 
trade which can only be achieved through a reason- 
able protection. 

[Letter to A. B. Hinsdale.] 

Washington, January 1, 1867. 
I am less satisfied with the present aspect of pub- 
lic affairs than I have been for a long time. . . . 



408 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Really there seems to be a fear on the part of many 
of our friends' that they may do some absurdly 
extravagant thing to prove their radicalism. I am 
trying to do two things : dare to be a radical and 
not be a fool, which, if I may judge by the exhibi- 
tions around me, is a matter of no small difficulty. 
. . . My own course is chosen, and it is quite 
probable it will throw me out of public life. 

We provide for the common defence by a system 
which promotes the general welfare. 

[From an Address at Hiram College, June 14, 1867.] 

It is to me a perpetual wonder how any child's 
love of knowledge survives the outrages of the 
school-house. I, for one, declare that no child of 
mine shall ever be compelled to study one hour, or 
to learn even the English alphabet, before he has 
deposited under his skin at least seven years of 
muscle and bone. 

[From the Same.] 

The student should study himself, his relations 
to society, to nature, and to art, and above all, in 
all, and through all these, he should study the rela- 
tions of himself, society, nature, and art, to God, 
the Author of them all. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 409 

[From the Same.] 

It is well to know the history of those magnifi- 
cent nations whose origin is lost in fable, and 
whose epitaphs were written a thousand years ago 
— but if we cannot know both, it is far better to 
study the history of our own nation, whose origin 
we can trace to the freest and noblest aspirations 
of the human heart — a nation that was formed 
from the hardiest, purest, and most enduring ele- 
ments of European civilization — a nation that, by 
its faith and courage, has dared and accomplished 
more for the human race in a single centuiy than 
Europe accomplished in the first thousand years 
of the Christian era. The New England township 
was the type after which our Federal Government 
was modelled ; yet it would be rare to find a col- 
lege student who can make a comprehensive and 
intelligible statement of the municipal organization 
of the township in which he was born, and tell you 
by what officers its legislative, judicial, and execu- 
tive functions were administered. One half of 
the time which is now almost wasted, in district 
schools, on English Grammar, attempted at too 
early an age, would be sufficient to teach our chil- 
dren to love the Republic, and to become its loyal 
and life-long supporters. After the bloody bap- 
tism from which the nation has arisen to a higher 
and nobler life, if this shameful defect in our sys- 



410 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tern of education be not speedily remedied, we 
shall deserve the infinite contempt of future gene- 
rations. I insist that it should be made an indis- 
pensable condition of graduation in every American 
college, that the student must understand the his- 
tory of this continent since its discovery by Euro- 
peans, the origin and history of the United States, 
its constitution of government, the struggles through 
which it has passed, and the rights and duties of 
citizens who are to determine its destiny and share 
its glory. 

Having thus gained the knowledge which is 
necessary to life, health, industry, and citizenship, 
the student is prepared to enter a wider and grand • 
er field of thought. If he desires that large and 
liberal culture, which will call into activity all his 
powers, and make the most of the material God 
has given him, he must study deeply and earnestly 
the intellectual, the moral, the religious, and the 
eesthetic nature of man ; his relations to nature, to 
civilization, past and present, and above all, his 
relations to God. These should occupy nearly, if 
not full.y, half the time of his college course. In 
connection with the philosophy of the mind, he 
should study logic, the pure mathematics, and the 
general laws of thought. In connection with moral 
philosophy, he should study political and social 
ethics — a science so little known either in colleges 
or congresses. Prominent among all the rest 



JAMES A. GAREIELD. 411 

should be his study of the wonderful history of the 
human race, in its slow and toilsome march across 
the centuries — now buried in ignorance, supersti- 
tion and crime ; now rising to the sublimity of 
heroism and catching a glimpse of a better destiny ; 
now turning remorselessly away from, and leaving 
to perish, empires and civilizations in which it had 
invested its faith, and courage, and boundless en- 
ergy for a thousand years, and plunging into the 
forests of Germany, Gaul, and Britain, to build for 
itself new empires, better fitted for its new aspira r 
tions ; and, at last, crossing three thousand miles 
of unknown sea, and building in the wilderness of 
a new hemisphere its latest and proudest monu- 
ments. 



[Speech in the House of Representatives, February 12, 1867.] 

I cannot forget that we have learned slowly. 
... I cannot forget that less than five years ago 
I received an order from my superior officer com- 
manding me to search my camp for a fugitive 
slave, and if found, to deliver him up to a Ken- 
tucky captain who claimed him as his property; 
and / had the honor to be perhaps the first officer 
in the army who peremptorily refused to obey such 
an order. We were then trying to save the Union 
without hurting slavery. ... It took us two years 
to reach a point where we were willing to do the 



412 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

most meagre justice to the black man, and to rec- 
ognize the truth that 

" A man's a man for a' that!" 

Sir, the hand of God has been visible in this 
work, leading us by degrees out of the blindness 
of our prejudices, to see that the fortunes of the 
Republic and the safety of the party of liberty are 
inseparably bound up with the rights of the black 
man. At last our party must see that if it would 
preserve its political life, or maintain the safety of 
the Republic, Ave must do justice to the humblest 
man in the Nation, whether black or white. I 
thank God that to-day we have struck the rock ; 
we have planted our feet upon solid earth. Streams 
of light will gleam out from the luminous truth 
embodied in the legislation of this day. This is 
ihQ ne plus ultra of reconstruction, and I hope Ave 
shall have the courage to go before our people 
everywhere with "This or nothing" for our motto. 

Now, sir, as a temporary measure, I give my 
support to this military bill properly restricted. 
It is severe. It was written with a steel pen made 
out of a bayonet; and bayonets have done us 
good service hitherto. All I ask is that Congress 
shall place civil governments before these people 
of the rebel States, and a cordon of bayonets 
behind them. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 413 

Now, what does this bill propose ? It lays the 
hands of the Nation upon the rebel State govern- 
ments, and takes the breath of life out of them. 
It puts the bayonet at the breast of every rebel 
murderer in the South to bring him to justice. It 
commands the army to protect the life and prop- 
erty of citizens whether black or white. It places 
in the hands of Congress absolutely and irrevo- 
cably the whole work of reconstruction. 

With this thunderbolt in our hands shall we 
stagger like idiots under its weight? Have we 
grasped a weapon which we have neither the 
courage nor the wisdom to wield? 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.* 

When in Europe in 1867, my attention was 
particularly drawn to the significant fact that the 
pictures of Lincoln and Seward were the only por- 
traits of American statesmen that were notably 
prominent, and that these were everywhere seen 
together. I asked a Frenchman of distinction why 

* "Another talk that I recall was at a social gathering. It 
was at a dinner-party, after the failure of Greeley's cam- 
paign. The host was, perhaps, the most original genius in 
Washington. He was an old companion of Greeley at 
Brook Farm. He was giving the dinner in payment of a 
bet he had lost by reason of Greeley's defeat. The conver- 
sation embraced all the topics of the day, and, in the course 
of it, turned to Seward. A member of the company 
thought that Seward had been dead years before he was put 



414 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Seward was held in such high estimation ; and Ills 
answer most seriously impressed me with the 
thought that perhaps, after all the slanders of his 
detractors, Mr. Seward had builded for the future 
more wisely than we knew. This gentleman said : 
" Mr. Seward is the American statesman who looms 
up the most prominently from over the water. 
His diplomacy in Mexico has placed the imprint of 
greatness upon his name. Halting for a moment 
in the midst of the turmoil of the civil war, with 
his pen he dismembered the coalition organized to 
place Maximilian upon the Mexican throne, and 
thus placed the first mine under the throne of the 
Third Bonaparte. He has undertaken what the 
combined powers of Europe have not ventured to 
essay — to break the sceptre of the Second Em- 
pire." The views entertained by this distinguished 
Frenchman seem also to have been held in Mexico, 
for upon the occasion of the death of Mr. Seward, 
the press of that country all made the most grate- 
ful mention of his services in that regard. 

into tlu grave. Genera] Garfield thought differently, and 
red, on the spur of the moment, a remarkable eulogy 
on the ili ad statesman. Soon afterward, I reduced to notes 
the outlines of that eulogy, so far as my memory served 
me, and I reproduce it here. General Garfield possesses 
rare conversational powers, and uses, in social discourse, a 
diction nut less eloquent and elegant than that to which he 
is accustomed in the forum." — Washington Correspondent 
of the Chicago 'Tribune. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 415 

The enthusiasm of this Frenchman, continued 
General Garfield, had not perished from my 
memory later when public duties called me to the 
State Department. The Alaska treaty had just 
been signed. I found the Sasre of Auburn alone, 
in the thoughtful mood so common to him when 
meditating upon great subjects. Our conversation 
fell upon himself, and I found that he had been 
meditating upon his withdraw! from public life. 
He had been eight years in the second highest 
place in this Nation. He had almost had the 
Presidency within his grasp ; but the displeasure 
of his party had fallen upon him, and he was about 
to retire from the political arena. He told me that 
power was sweet to him ; that he clung even then 
fondly to its shadow ; and that he relinquished his 
sceptre with regret. His exact language, in speak- 
ing of his past career was : t; It is unpleasant to 
yield up power." The conversation turned upon 
Alaska. The Secretary fell into the dream-like 
attitude that was never seen except by those who 
were familiar with him, and commenced to explain 
his theory of the Alaska purchase in forcible, pro- 
phetic, almost pathetic words which I never shall 
forget. I left the room then with grander ideas 
of the man than I had ever entertained before. His 
conversation indicated that he had been following 
a particular course of study, for he remarked that, 
to his notion, the two greatest books of the century 



416 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

were Marsh's " Man in Nature," and the Duke of 
Argyll's " Keign of Law." The application of Ar- 
gyll's theory of law as applied to political develop- 
ment, Mr. Seward had evidently studied with much 
care. He had been reasoning upon natural laws 
as they, affect a nation. He had been speculating 
upon the elementary forces of a nation's grandeur, 
and upon the contrivance in combining them to 
make them operate in a direction desired. This 
theory was founded upon the possibility of tracing 
these forces in history, and of discovering the 
operation of these laws under conditions which had 
actually determined the course of mankind and 
nations in definite directions. The text of his 
theory was the history of the world's seas. History 
had taught him that the grandest achievements of 
man had been associated with the shores of the 
world's seas. To go back no further than the be- 
ginning of the Christian era, the most sacred, 
solemn story of the hopes of man had been written 
in wanderings on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. 
With the progress of Christian civilization, thus 
sea-born, the advancing tide of human progress 
was staid by the banks of the- Mediterranean. It 
was along the borders of this sea that the Byzantine 
Empire nourished and was destroyed ; that Eome 
attained her supremacy, and fell. With the pro- 
gress of time, and the advance of civilization west- 
ward, the Atlantic took the place of the Galilean 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 417 

Sea and of the Mediterranean. It is the sea of the 
present. But unless the laws of political geogra- 
phy are false, the contests of the future are to be 
around the shores of the " still sea," now our own 
Pacific. The nation of the future is the nation that 
holds the key of those waters. The purchase of 
Alaska has given our Republic a foothold on both 
sides of that sea. It is a geographical impossibil- 
ity that any other nation can occupy a position in 
its own territory upon both sides of the Pacific. 
This is the theory of the purchase. It secures the 
control of the Pacific to the young Republic. It 
assures the future of the world's dominion to 
Yankee civilization. This was the theory. 

And his outlook, said General Garfield, with en- 
thusiasm, was grand. In his political horoscope, 
he saw the Republic enjoying a prosperity of which 
the annals of human affairs had furnished no ex- 
ample ; he saw our country rising to the place of 
umpire among the world's powers ; he saw how, 
by wise statesmanship, our material prosperity and 
peaceful conquests grew together ; how our in- 
creasing commerce made us mistress of the seas ; 
how Western civilization and Oriental decrepitude 
were staid upon the borders of that Pacific sea, and 
compelled to render homage to Young America, 
who had become the keeper of the world's keys. 

These were the grand thoughts of Mr. Seward 
as he was about to relinquish the mantle of his 

27 



418 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

power, and, continued General Garfield, his views 
have left a lasting impression upon me. Mr. 
Seward could not have died more successfully than 
he did. He passed away in the lull between two 
elections, and received the merited eulogiums of 
both parties. He bore success followed by failure 
better than any American I know. He was for 
nearly a decade next to the source of power, and 
missed the place which was the goal of his later 
years, retiring from public life suffering the dis- 
pleasure of his party. ■ But he quietly retired to 
private life, and never lost his genial spirit or his 
noble ways. 

[This report of the conversation is indorsed by 
General Garfield as " in the main correct." 

J. C] 

[Speech on the Currency Question, 1868.] 

As a medium of exchange, money is to all busi- 
ness transactions what ships are to the transporta- 
tion of merchandise. If a hundred vessels, of a 
given tonnage, arc just .sufficient to carry all the 
commodities between two ports, any increase of 
the number of vessels will correspondingly decrease 
the value of each as an instrument of commerce ; 
any decrease below one hundred Mill correspond- 
ingly increase the value of each. If the number 
be doubled, each will carry but half its usual freight, 
will be worth but half its former value for that 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 419 

trade. There is so much work to be done, and no 
more. A hundred vessels can do it all. A thou- 
sand can do no more than all. 

When the money of the country is gold and sil- 
ver, it adapts itself to the fluctuations of business 
without the aid of legislation. If at any time we 
have more than is needed, the surplus flows off to 
other countries through the channels of interna- 
tional commerce. If less, the deficiency is sup- 
plied through the same channels. Thus the mone- 
tary equilibrium is maintained. So immense is 
the trade' of the world, that the golden streams 
pouring from California and Australia into the 
specie circulation are soon absorbed in the great 
mass, and equalized throughout the world, as the 
waters of all the rivers are spread upon the surface 
of all the seas. 

Not so, however, with an inconvertible paper 
currency. Excepting the specie used in payment 
of customs and the interest on our public debt, we 
are cut off from the money currents of the world. 
Our currency resembles rather the waters of an 
artificial lake, which lie in stagnation or rise to full 
banks at the caprice of the gate-keeper. 

[A Speech on Currency and the Banks, 1870.] 
The business of the country is like the level of 
the ocean, from which all measurements are made 



420 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

of heights and depths. Though tides and currents 
may for a time disturb, and tempests vex and toss 
its surface, still through calm and storm the grand 
level rules all its waves and lays its measuring- 
lines on every shore. So the business of the coun- 
try, which, in the aggregated demands of the peo- 
ple for the exchange of values, marks the ebb and 
flow, the rise and fall of the currents of trade, and 
forms the base-line from which to measure all our 
financial legislation, and is the only safe rule by 
which the volume of our currency can be deter- 
mined. 



The State bank system was a chaos of ruin, in 
which the business of the country was again and 
again ingulfed. The people rejoice that it has 
been swept away, and they will not consent to its 
re-establishment. In its place we have the Na- 
tional-bank system, based on the bonds of the 
United States, and sharing the safety and credit 
of the government. Their notes are made secure, 
first, by a deposit of government bonds, worth at 
least ten per cent, more than the whole value of 
the notes ; second, by a paramount lien on all the 
assets of the banks ; third, the personal liability 
of all the shareholders to an amount equal to the 
capital they hold ; and, fourth, the absolute guar- 
antee by the government to redeem them at the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 421 

National Treasury if the banks fail to do so. In- 
stead of seven thousand different varieties of notes, 
as in the State system, we have now but ten varie 
ties, -each uniform in character and appearance. 
Like our flag, they bear the stamp of nationality, 
and are honored in every part of the Union. 

[From a Speech in the House, April 1, 1870.] 

As an abstract theory of political economy free- 
trade has many advocates, and much can be said 
in its favor ; nor will it be denied that the scholar- 
ship of modern times is largely on that side ; that 
a large majority of the great thinkers of the pres- 
ent day are leading in the direction of what is 
called free-trade. 

While this is true, it is equally undeniable that 
the principle of protection has always been recog- 
nized and adopted in some form or another by all 
nations, and is to-day, to a greater or less extent, 
the policy of every civilized government 

Protection, in its practical meaning, is that pro- 
vident care for the industry and development of 
our own country which will give our own people 
an equal chance in the pursuit of wealth, and save 
us from the calamity of being dependent upon 
other nations with whom we may any day be at 
war. 

In so far as the doctrine of free-trade is a pro- 



422 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

test against the old system of oppression and pro- 
hibition, it is a healthy and worthy sentiment. 
But underlying all theories, there is a strong and 
deep conviction in the minds of a great majority 
of our people in favor of protecting American in- 
dustry 



[Speech on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 
April 4, 1871.] 

Nothing more aptly describes the char- 
acter of our Eepublic than the solar system, 
launched into space by the hand of the Creator, 
where the central sun is the great power around 
which revolve all the planets in their appointed 
orbits. But while the sun holds in the grasp of 
its attractive power the whole system, and imparts 
its light and heat to all, yet each individual planet 
is under the sway of laws peculiar to itself. 

Under the sway of terrestrial laws, winds blow, 
waters flow, and all .the tenantries of the planet 
live and move. So, sir, the States move on in 
their orbits of duty and obedience, bound to the 
central government by this Constitution, which is 
their supreme law; while each State is making 
laws and regulations of its own, developing its 
own energies, maintaining its own industries, 
manao-injr its local affairs in its own way, subject 
only to the supreme but beneficent control of tho 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 423 

Union. "When State-rights ran mad, put on the 
form of secession, and attempted to drag the States 
out of the Union, we saw the grand lesson, taught 
in all the battles of the late Avar, that a State could 
no more be hurled from the Union, without ruin 
to the nation, than could a planet be thrown from 
its orbit without dragging after it, to chaos and 
ruin, the whole solar universe. 

In 1865 we had a debt of two billions seven 
hundred and seventy-two millions of dollars upon 
our hands, the debt accumulated from the great 
results of the war ; we were compelled to pay 
from that debt one hundred and fifty-one millions 
of dollars in coin a year as interest, and that was a 
dreadful annual burden. In the year after the 
war ended, we paid live hundred and ninety mil- 
lions of dollars over our counter in settling the 
business of the war and maintaining the ordinary 
expenses of the government. These tremendous 
burdens it seemed for a time we could not carry, 
and there were wicked men, and despairing men, 
and men who said we ought not to try to carry the 
burdens ; but the brave nation said, This burden is 
the price of our country's life, all through it there 
is the price of blood and the price of liberty, and, 
therefore, we will bow our knees to the burden, 
we will carry it upon the stalwart shoulders of the 
nation. 



424 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

[Letter to Professor Demmon, December 16, 1871.] 

Since I entered public life, I have con- 
stantly aimed to find a little time to keep alive the 
spirit of my classical studies, and to resist that 
constant tendency, which all public men feel, to 
grow rusty in literary studies, and particularly in 
the classical studies. I have thought it better to 
select some one line of classical reading, and, if 
possible, do a little work on it each day. For 
this winter I am determined to review such parts 
of the Odes of Horace as I may be able to reach. 
And, as preliminary to that work, I have begun 
by reading up the bibliography of Horace. 

The Congressional Library is very rich in ma- 
terials for this study, and I am amazed to find how 
deep and universal has been the impress left on 
the cultivated mind of the world by Horace's 
writings. 

The Student should study himself, his relation 
to Society, to Nature and to Art — and above all, 
in all, and through all these, he should study the 
relations of Himself, Society, Nature, and Art to 
God the Author of them all. 

Greek is perhaps the most perfect instrument 
of Thought ever invented by Man, and its Litera- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 425 

ture has never been equalled in purity of style and 
boldness of expression. 



History is but the unrolled scroll of Prophecy. 
The world's history is a divine Poem, of which the 
history of every nation is a canto, and every man 
a word. Its strains have been pealing along down 
the centuries, and though there have been mingled 
the discords of warring cannon and dying men, 
yet to the Christian, Philosopher, and Historian — 
the humble listener — there has been a divine 
melody running through the song which speaks 
of hope and halcyon days to come. 

The lesson of History is rarely learned by the 
actors themselves. 

Theologians in all ages have looked out admir- 
ingly upon the material universe, and from its 
inanimate existences demonstrated the Power, 
Wisdom, and Goodness of God ; but we know of 
no one who has demonstrated the same attributes 
from the History of the human race. 

Mankind have been slow to believe that order 
reigns in the universe, that the world is a Cosmos, 
not a chaos. 



426 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The assertion of the reign of Law has been 
stubbornly resisted at every step. The divinities 
of Heathen superstition still* linger in one form or 
another in the faith of the ignorant, and even 
many intelligent men shrink from the contem- 
plation of one Supreme Will acting regularly, not 
fatuitously, through laws beautiful and simple, 
rather than through a fitful and capricious Provi- 
dence. 

English liberty to-day rests not so much on the 
government as on those rights which the people 
have wrested from the government. The rights 
of the Englishman outnumber the rights of the 
Englishman's king. 

Poetry is the language of Freedom. 

Liberty can be safe only when Suffrage is illu- 
minated by education. 

[Speech on the last Census.] 
The developments of statistics are causing his- 
tory to be re-written. Till recently the historian 
studied nature in the aggregate, and gave us only 
the story of princes, dynasties, sieges, and battles. 
Of the people themselves — the great social body, 
with life, growth, forces, elements, etc. — he told 
us nothing. Now, statistical inquiry leads us into 
the hovels, houses, workshops, mines, fields, pris- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 427 

ons, hospitals, and all places where human nature 
displays its weakness and strength. In these 
explorations he discovers the seeds of national 
growth and decay, and thus becomes the prophet 
of his generation. 

Statistical science is indispensable to modern 
statesmanship. In legislation, as in physical sci- 
ence, it is beginning to be understood that we can 
control terrestrial forces only by obeying their 
laws. The legislator must formulate in his statis- 
tics not only the national Avill but also those great 
laws of social life revealed by statistics. He must 
study society rather than black-letter learning. 
He must learn the truth that " society usually pre- 
pares the crime, and the criminal is only the in- 
strument that completes it," that statesmanship 
consists rather in removing causes than in pun- 
ishing, or evading results. 

[Speech on National Aid to Education, February 6, 1872.] 

We look sometimes with great admiration at a 
government like Germany, that can command the 
light of its education to shine everywhere, that can 
enforce its school laws everywhere throughout the 
Empire. Under our system we do not rejoice in 
that, but we rather rejoice that here two forces 
play with all their vast power upon our system of 
education. The first is that of the local municipal 
power under our State government. There is the 



428 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

centre of responsibility. There is the chief edu- 
cational power 

But there is another force even greater than that 
of the State and the local governments. It is the 
force of private voluntary enterprise, that force 
which has built up the multitude of private schools, 
academies, and colleges throughout the United 
States, not always wisely, but always with enthu- 
siasm and wonderful energy. 

I am considering what is the best system of 
orofanizinsr the educational work of a nation, not 
from the political stand-point alone, but from the 
stand-point of the school-house itself. This work 
of public education partakes in a peculiar way of 
the spirit of the human mind in its efforts for 
culture. The mind must be as free from extra- 
neous control as possible ; must work under the 
inspiration of its own desires for knowledge ; 
and while instructors and books are necessary 
helps, the fullest and highest success must spring 
from the power of self-help. 

So the best system of education is that which 
draws its chief support from the voluntary effort 
of the community, from the individual effort of 
citizens, and from those burdens of taxation which 
they voluntarily impose upon themselves. . . . 
Government shall be only a help to them, rather 
than a commander, in the work of education. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 429 

I would rather be beaten in Eight than succeed 
in Wrong. 

Present evils always seem greater than those 
that never come. 

Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify ; but 
nine times out of ten the best thing that can hap- 
pen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and 
compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my 
acquaintance I never knew a man to be drowned 
who was worth the saving. 

For the noblest man that lives there still re- 
mains a conflict. 

No man can make a speech alone. It is the 
great human power that strikes up from a thousand 
minds that acts upon him and makes the speech. 

After the battle of Arms comes the battle of 
History. 

There is a fellowship among the Virtues by 
which one great, generous passion stimulates 
another. 

Growth is better than Permanence, and per- 
manent growth is better than all. 

The principles of Ethics have not changed by 
the lapse of years. 



430 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The possession of great power no doubt carries 
with it a contempt for mere external show. 

[From a Speech on Repealing the Salary Clause, 1873.] 

One of the brightest and greatest of men I 
know in this nation [Louis Agassiz], a man who, 
perhaps, has done as much for its intellectual life 
as any other, told me not many months ago that 
he had made it the rule of his life to abandon any 
intellectual pursuit the moment it became com- 
mercially valuable ; that others would utilize what 
he had discovered ; that his field of work was 
above the line of commercial values, and when he 
brought down the great truths of science from the 
upper heights to the level of commercial values, 
a thousand hands would be ready to take them, 
and make them more valuable in the markets of 
the world. He entered upon his great career, not 
for the salary it gave him, for that was meagre 
compared with the pay of those in the lower 
walks of life ; but he followed the promptings of 
his great nature, and worked for the love of truth 
and the instruction of mankind. 

[Letter to B. A. Hinsdale, 1874.] 

The worst days of darkness through which I 
have ever passed have been greatly alleviated by 
throwing myself with all my energy into some 
work relating to others. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 431 



[Speech on the Currency and the Public Faith, April 8, 

187-1.] 

There never did exist on this earth a body of 
men wise enough to determine by any arbitrary 
rule how much currency is needed for the business 
of a great country. The laws of trade, the laws 
of credit, the laws of God impressed upon the 
elements of this world, are superior to all legisla- 
tion ; and we can enjoy the benefits of these immu- 
table laws only by obeying them. 

It has been demonstrated again and again that 
upon the artisans, the farmers, the day-laborers 
falls at last the dead weight of all the depreciation 
and loss that irredeemable paper-money carries in 
its train. Let this policy be carried out, and the 
day will surely and speedily come when the nation 
will clearly trace the cause of its disaster to those 
who deluded themselves and the people with what 
Jefferson fitly called "legerdemain tricks of paper- 
money." 

[Speech on the Railway Problem, June 22, 1874.] 
We are so involved in the events and movements 
of society that we do not stop to realize — what is 
undeniably true — that during the last forty years 
all modern societies have entered upon a period 
of change more marked, more pervading, more 



432 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

radical than any that has occurred during the last 
three hundred years. In saying this, I do not for- 
get our own political and military history, nor the 
French Ke volution of 1793. The changes now 
taking place have been wrought, and are being 
wrought, mainly, almost wholly, by a single me- 
chanical contrivance, the steam locomotive. Im- 
agine, if you can, what would happen if to-morrow 
morning the railway locomotive, and its corollary, 
the telegraph, were blotted from the earth. At 
first thought, it would seem impossible to get on at 
all with the feeble substitutes we should be com- 
pelled to adopt in place of these great forces. To 
what humble proportions mankind would be com- 
pelled to scale down the great enterprises they are 
now pushing forward with such ease ! But were 
this calamity to happen, we should simply be 
placed where w r e were forty-three years ago. 

There are many persons now living who well 
remember the day when Andrew Jackson, after 
four weeks of toilsome travel from his home in 
Tennessee, reached Washington and took his first 
oath of office as President of the United States. 
On that day the railway locomotive did not exist. 
During that year Henry Clay was struggling to 
make his name immortal by linking it with the 
then vast project of building a national road — a 
turnpike — from the national capital to the banks 
of the Mississippi. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 433 

In the autumn of that very year George Ste- 
phenson ran his first experimental locomotive, the 
"Rocket," from Manchester to Liverpool and back. 
The rumble of its wheels, redoubled a million 
times, is echoing to-day on every continent. 

The American people have done much for the 
locomotive, and it has done much for them. "We 
have already seen that it has greatly reduced, if 
not wholly destroyed, the danger that the govern- 
ment will fall to pieces by its own weight. The 
railroad has not only brought our people and their 
industries together, but it has carried civilization 
into the wilderness, has built up States and Terri- 
tories, which, but for its power, would have re- 
mained deserts for a century to come. "Abroad 
and at home," as Mr. Adams tersely declares, rt it 
has equally nationalized people and cosmopolized 
nations." It has played a most important part in 
the recent movement for the unification and pres- 
ervation of nations. 

It enabled us to do what the old military science 
had pronounced impossible — to conquer a revolted 
population of eleven millions, occupying a territory 
one-fifth as large as the continent of Europe. In 
an able essay on the railway system, Mr. Charles 
F. Adams, Jr. has pointed out some of the remark- 
able achievements of the railroad in our recent 
history. For example, a single railroad track 

28 



434 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

enabled Sherman to maintain eighty thousand fight- 
ing men three hundred miles beyond his base of 
supplies. Another line, in a space of seven days, 
brought a re-enforcement of two fully equipped 
army corps around a circuit of thirteen hundred 
miles, to strengthen an army at a threatened point. 
He calls attention to the still more striking fact 
that for ten years past, with fifteen hundred mil- 
lions of our indebtedness abroad, an enormous debt 
at home, unparalleled public expenditures, and a 
depreciated paper currency, in defiance of all past 
experience, we have been steadily conquering our 
difficulties, have escaped the predicted collapse, 
and are promptly meeting our engagements ; be- 
cause, through energetic railroad development, the 
country has been producing real wealth, as no 
country has produced it before. Finally, he sums 
up the case by declaring that the locomotive has 
" dragged the country through its difficulties in 
spite of itself." 

In the darkness and chaos of that period, the 
feudal system was the first important step toward 
the organization of modern nations. Powerful 
chiefs and barons intrenched themselves in castles, 
and, in return for submission and service, gave to 
their vassals rude protection and ruder laws. But 
as the feudal chiefs grew in power and wealth, 
they became the oppressors of their people, taxed 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 435 

and robbed them at will, and finally, in their arro- 
gance, defied the kings and emperors of the Medi- 
ae val States. From their castles, planted on the 
great thoroughfares, they practised the most capri- 
cious extortions on commerce and travel, and thus 
gave to modern language the phrase, "levy black- 
mail." 

The consolidation of our great industrial and 
commercial companies, the power they wield, and 
the relations they sustain to the State and to the 
industry of the people, do not fall far short of 
Fourier's definition of commercial or industrial 
feudalism. The modern barons, more powerful 
than their military prototypes, own our greatest 
highways, and levy tribute at will upon all our 
vast industries. And, as the old feudalism was 
finally controlled and subordinated only by the 
combined efforts of the kings and the people of 
the free cities and towns, so our modern feudalism 
can be subordinated to the public good only by 
the great body of the people, acting through their 
governments by wise and just laws. 

I shall not now enter upon the discussion of 
methods by which this great work of adjustment 
may be accomplished. But I refuse to believe 
that the genius and energy which have developed 
these new and tremendous forces, will fail to 
make them, not the masters, but the faithful ser- 
vants of society. It will be a disgrace to our age 






436 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

and to us, if we do not discover some method by 
which the public functions of these organizations 
may be brought into full subordination to the 
public, and that, too, without violence, and with- 
out unjust interference with the rights of private 
individuals. It will be unworthy of our age, and 
of us, if we make the discussion of this subject a 
mere warfare against men. For in these great 
industrial enterprises have been, and still are en- 
gaged, some of the noblest and worthiest men of 
our time. It is the system — its tendencies and 
its dangers — which society itself has produced, 
that we are now to confront. And these indus- 
tries must not be crippled, but promoted. The 
evils complained of are mainly of our own mak- 
ing. States and communities have willingly and 
thoughtlessly conferred these great powers upon 
railways ; and they must seek to rectify their own 
errors without injury to the industries they have 
encouraged. 

It depends upon the wisdom, the culture, the 
self-control of our people and their representa- 
tives, to determine how wisely and how well this 
question shall be settled. But that it will be 
solved, and solved in the interest of liberty and 
justice, I do not doubt. And its solution will 
open the Avay to a solution of a whole chapter of 
similar questions that relate to the conflict between 
capital and labor. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 437 

[From a Speech in the House of Representatives, June, 
1874.] 

The division between church and state ou^ht to 

he so absolute that no church property anywhere, 

in any State or in the nation, should be exempt 

from taxation ; for, if you exempt the property of 

any church organization, to that extent you impose 

a church-tax upon the whole community. 

Occasion may be the bugle-call that summons 
an army to battle, but the blast of a bugle can 
never make soldiers or win victories. 

Things don't turn up in this world until some- 
body turns them up. 

We cannot study nature profoundly without 
bringing ourselves into communion with the spirit 
of art which pervades and fills the universe. 

If there be one thing upon this earth that man- 
kind love and admire better than another, it is a 
brave man ; it is a man who dares to look the 
devil in the face, and tell him he is a devil. 

It is one of the precious mysteries of sorrow, 
that it finds solace in unselfish thought. 

True art is but the anti-type of nature, the em- 
bodiment of discovered beauty in utility. 



438 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

In order to have any success in life, cr any 
worthy success, you must resolve to carry into 
your work a fulness of knowledge ; not merely a 
sufficiency, but more than a sufficiency. 

Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. 

If you are not too large for the place, you are 
too small for it. 

What the arts are to the world of matter, lit- 
erature is to the world of mind. 

Many books we can read in a railroad car, and 
feel a harmony between the rushing of the train 
and the haste of the author ; but to enjoy stand- 
ard works, we need the quiet of a winter evening ; 
an easy-chair before a cheerful tire, and all the 
equanimity of spirits we can command. 

He who would understand the real spirit of 
literature should not select authors of any one 
period alone, but rather go to the fountain-head, 
and trace the little rill as it courses along down 
the ages, broadening and deepening into the great 
ocean of thought which the men of the present 
are exploring. 

The true literary man is no mere gleaner, fol- 
lowing in the rear and gathering up the fragments 
of the world's thought ; but he goes down deep 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 439 

into the heart of humanity, watches its throbbings ; 
analyzes the forces at work there ; traces out, with 
prophetic foresight, their tendencies, and thus, 
standing out far beyond his age, holds up the pic- 
ture of what it is and is to be. 

[Letter to A. B. Hinsdale, 1876.] 
I have followed this rule [as a lawyer] : when- 
ever I have had a case, I have undertaken to work 
out thoroughly the principles involved in it ; not 
for the case alone, but for the sake of comprehend- 
ing thoroughly that branch of the law. 

[From " Life and Character of Alrneda A. Booth," June 22, 
1876.] 

We can study no life intelligently except in its 
relation to causes and results. Character is the 
chief element ; for it is both a result and a cause 
— the result of all the elements and forces that 
combined to form it, and the chief cause of all 
that is accomplished by its possessor 

Every character is the joint product of nature 
and nurture. By the first, we mean those inborn 
qualities of body and mind inherited from parents, 
or rather from a long line of ancestors. Who shall 
estimate the effect of those latent forces, enfolded 
in the spirit of a new-born child, which may date 
back centuries, and find their origin in the unwrit- 
ten history of remote ancestors — forces, the germs 



440 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

of which, enveloped in the solemn mystery of life, 
have been transmitted silently, from generation to 
generation, and never perish? All-cherishing Na- 
ture, provident and unforgetting, gathers up all 
these fragments that nothing may be lost, but that 
all may reappear in new combinations. Each new 
life is thus the " heir of all the ages," the possessor 
of qualities which only the events of life can un- 
fold. 

By the second element, nurture, culture, we 
designate all those influences which act upon this 
initial force of character, to retard or strengthen 
its development. There has been much discussion 
to determine which of these elements plays the 
more important part in the formation of character. 
The truth doubtless is, that sometimes the one and 
sometimes the other is the greater force ; but so 
far as life and character are dependent upon volun- 
tary action, the second is no doubt the element of 
chief importance. 

[From the Same.] 

Not enough attention has been paid to the marked 
difference between the situation and possibilities 
of a life developed here in the West, during the 
first half of the present century, and those of a 
life nurtured and cultivated in an old and settled 
community like that of New England. 

Consider, for example, the measureless differ- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 441 

ence between the early surroundings of John 
Quincy Adams and Abraham Lincoln. Both 
were possessed of great natural endowments 
Adtims was blessed with parents whose native 
force of character, and whose vigorous and thor- 
ough culture have never been surpassed by any 
married pair in America. Young Adams was 
thoroughly taught by his mother until he had com- 
pleted his tenth year ; and then, accompanying his 
father to France, he spent two years in a training- 
school at Paris and three years in the University at 
Ley den. After two years of diplomatic service, 
under the skilful guidance of his father's hand, ho 
returned to America, and devoted three years to 
study at Harvard, where he was graduated at the 
age of twenty-one-; and, three years later, was 
graduated in the law, under the foremost jurist of 
his time. With such parentage and such oppor- 
tunities, who can wonder that by the time he 
reached the meridian of his life, he was a man of 
immense erudition, and had honored every great 
office in the gift of his country ? 

How startling the contrast, in every particular, 
between his early life and that of Abraham Lin- 
coln. . . . Born to an inheritance of the extrem- 
est poverty, wholly unaided by his parents, sur- 
rounded by the rude forces of the wilderness, only 
one year at any school, never for a day master of 
his own time until he reached his majority, forcing 



442 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

his way to the profession of the law by the hard- 
est and roughest road, and beginning its practice 
at twenty-eight years of age, yet, by the force of 
unconquerable will and persistent hard work, he 
attained a foremost place in his profession. 

" And, moving up from high to higher. 
Became, on fortune's crowning slope, 
The pillar of a people's hope, 
The centre of a world's desire." 

[From the Same.] 
It is one of the precious mysteries of sorrow, 
that it finds solace in unselfish work. 

A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. Let 
not poverty stand as an obstacle in your way. 

Here is the volume of our laws. More sacred 
than the twelve tables of Rome, this rock of the 
law rises in monumental grandeur alike above the 
people and the President, above the courts, above 
Congress, commanding everywhere reverence and 
obedience to its supreme authority. 

That man makes a vital mistake who judges 
truth in relation to financial affairs from the chang- 
ing phases of public opinion. lie might as well 
stand on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, and from 
the ebb and flow of a single tide attempt to deter- 
mine the general level of the sea, as to stand upon 
this floor, and from the current of public opinion 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 443 

on any one debate, judge of the general level of 
the public mind. It is only when long spaces 
along the shore of the sea are taken into account 
that the grand level is found from which the 
heights and depths are measured.' And it is only 
when long spaces of time are considered, that we 
find at last that level of public opinion which we 
call the general judgment of mankind. 

Bad faith on the part of an individual, a city, or 
even a State, is a small evil in comparison with 
the calamities which follow bad faith on the part 
of a sovereign government. 

In the complex and delicately adjusted relations 
of modern society, confidence in promises lawfully 
made is the life-blood of trade and commerce. It 
is the vital air Labor breathes. It is the light 
which shines on the pathway of prosperity, 



'a* 



An act of bad faith on the part of a State or 
municipal corporation, like poison in the blood, 
will transmit its curse to succeeding generations. 

We are accustomed to hear it said that the great 
powers of government in this country are divided 
into two classes ; National powers and State 
powers. That is an incomplete classification. 
Our fathers carefully divided all governmental 
powers into three classes ; one they gave to the 



444 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

States, another to the Nation ; but the third great 
class, comprising the most precious of all powers, 
they refused to confer on the State or Nation, but 
reserved to themselves. This third class of 
powers has been almost uniformly overlooked by 
men who have written and discussed the American 
system. 

Congress must always be the exponent of the 
political character and culture of the people, and 
if the next centennial does not find us a great Na- 
tion with a great and worthy Congress, it will be 
because those who represent the enterprise, the 
culture, and the morality of the Nation do not aid 
in controlling the political forces which are em- 
ployed to select the men who shall occupy the 
great places of trust and power. 

There is scarcely a conceivable form of corrup- 
tion or public wrong that does not at last present 
itself at the cashier's desk and demand money. 
The Legislature therefore, that stands at the cash- 
ier's desk and watches with its Argus eyes the de- 
mands for payment over the counter is most cer- 
tain to see all the forms of public rascality. 

A steady and constant Revenue drawn from 
sources that represent the prosperity of the nation, 
— a Revenue that grows with the growth of na- 
tional wealth, and is so adjusted to the expendi- 



« 

JAMES A. GARFIELD. 445 

tures, that a constant and considerable surplus is 
annually left in the Treasury above all the neces- 
sary current demands, a surplus that keeps the 
Treasury strong, that holds it above the fear of 
sudden panic, that makes it impregnable against 
all private combinations, that makes it a terror to 
all stock-jobbing and gold-gambling, — this is fi- 
nancial health. 

[From the "Atlantic Monthly," July, 1877.] 

The most alarming feature of our situation is 
the fact, that so many citizens of high character 
and solid judgment pay but little attention to the 
sources of political power, to the selection of those 
who shall make their laws. ... It is precisely 
this neglect of the first steps in our political pro- 
cesses that has made possible the worst evils of 
our system. Corrupt and incompetent presidents, 
judges, and legislators can be removed, but when 
the fountains of political power are corrupted, 
when voters themselves become venal, and elections 
fraudulent, there is no remedy except by awaken- 
ing the public conscience, and bringing to bear 
upon the subject the power of public opinion and 
the penalties of the law. ... In a word, our 
national safety demands that the fountains of 
political power shall be made pure by intelligence, 
and kept pure by vigilance ; that the best citizens 
shall take heed to the selection and election of the 



446 LIFE AND TUBLIC SERVICES OF 

worthiest and most intelligent among them to hold 
seats in the national legislature ; and that when the 
choice has been made, the continuance of their 
representative shall depend upon his faithfulness, 
his ability, and his willingness to work. 
# 

[Speech on the presentation to Congress of Carpenter's 
painting of President Lincoln and his Cabinet, at the 
time of his first reading of the Proclamation of Emanci- 
pation, January 16, 1878.] 

Let us pause to consider the actors in that scene. 
In force of character, in thoroughness and breadth 
of culture, in experience of public affairs, and in 
national reputation, the cabinet that sat around 
that council-board has had no superior, perhaps no 
equal in our history. Seward, the finished scholar, 
the consummate orator, the great leader of the 
senate, had come to crown his career with those 
achievements which placed him in the lirst rank 
of modern diplomatists. Chase, with a culture 
and a frame of massive grandeur, stood as the rock 
and pillar of the public credit, the noble embodi- 
ment of the public faith. Stanton was then-, a 
yciy Titan of strength, the great organizer of vic- 
tory. Eminent lawyers, men of business, leaders 
of stabs, and leaders of men, completed the 
group. 

But the man who presided over that council, 
who inspired a.., I guided its determinations, was 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 447 

a character so unique that he stood alone, without 
a model in history, or a parallel among men. Born 
on this day, sixty-nine years ago, to an inheritance 
of cxtremest poverty, surrounded by the rude 
forces of the wilderness ; wholly unaided by par- 
ents ; only one year in any school ; never, for 
a day, master of his own time until he reached 
his majority ; making his way to the profession of 
the law by the hardest and roughest road ; yet , by 
force of unconquerable will and persistent, pa- 
tient work, he attained a foremost place in his pro- 
fession, 

"And, moving up from high to higher, 

Became, on fortune's crowning slope, 

The pillar of a people's hope, 
The centre of a world's desire." 

At first it was the prevailing belief that he 
would be only the nominal head of his adminis- 
tration ; that its policy would be directed by the 
eminent statesmen he had called to his council. 
How erroneous this opinion was, may be seen 
from a sino-le incident. Among the earliest, most 
difficult, and most delicate duties of his adminis- 
tration, was the adjustment of our relations with 
Great Britain. Serious complications, even hostil- 
ities, were apprehended. On the 21st day of 
May, 1861, the Secretary of State presented to 
the President his draught of a letter of instruc- 
tions to Minister Adams, in which the position of 



448 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the United States and the attitude of Great Britain 
were set forth with the clearness and force which 
long experience and great ability had placed at the 
command of the Secretary. 

Upon almost every page of that original draught 
are erasures, additions, and marginal notes in the 
handwriting of Abraham Lincoln, which exhibit a 
sagacity, a breadth of wisdom, and a comprehen- 
sion of the whole subject, impossible to be found 
except in a man of the very first order. And 
these modifications of a great state-paper were 
made by a man who, but three months before, had 
entered, for the first time, the wide theatre of 
executive action. 

Gifted with an insight and a foresight which the 
ancients would have called- divination, he saw, in 
the midst of darkness and obscurity, the logic of 
events, and forecast the result. From the first, in 
his own quaint, original way, without ostentation 
or offence to his associates, he was pilot and com- 
mander of his administration. He was one of the 
few great rulers whose wisdom increased with his 
power, and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer 
as his triumphs were multiplied. 

[From the " North American Review," May-June, 1878.] 

The Secretary of War is a civil officer ; one of 
the constitutional advisers of the President — his 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 449 

civil executive to direct and control military affairs, 
and conduct army administration for the President. 
. . . This was clearly understood in our early his- 
tory, and it is worthy of note that our most emi- 
nent Secretaries of War have been civilians, who 
brought to the duties of the office great political 
and legal experience, and other high qualities of 
statesmanship. 

Perhaps it was wise in Washington to choose as 
the first Secretary of War, a distinguished soldier, 
for the purpose of creating and setting in order 
the military establishment ; but it may well be 
doubted if any subsequent appointment of a soldier 
to that position has been wise. In fact, most of 
the misadjustments between the Secretary of War 
and the army, so much complained of in recent 
years, originated with a Secretary of War who 
had been a soldier, and could hardly refrain from 
usurping the functions of command. . . . 

No very serious conflict of jurisdiction and 
command occurred until Jefferson Davis became 
Secretary of War. His early training as a soldier, 
his spirit of self-reliance and habits of imperious 
command, soon brought him into collision with 
General Scott, and were the occasion of a corre- 
spondence, perhaps the most acrimonious ever 
carried on by any prominent public man of our 
country. 

29 



450 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



[From a Speech at Faneuil Hall, Boston, September 11, 

1878.] 

The Republican party of this country has said, 
and it says to-day, that, forgetting all the animosi- 
ties of the war, forgetting all the fierceness and 
the passion of it, it reaches out both its hands to 
the gallant men who fought us, and offers all fel- 
lowship, all comradeship, all feelings of brother- 
hood, on this sole condition, and on that condition 
they will insist forever : That in the war for the 
Union we were right, forever right, and that in 
the war against the Union they were wrong, for- 
ever wrong. We never made terms, we never 
will make terms, with the man who denies the 
everlasting rightfulness of our cause. That would 
be treason to the dead and injustice to the living ; 
and on that basis alone our pacification is com- 
plete. We ask that it be realized, and we shall 
consider it fully realized when it is just as safe 
and just as honorable for a good citizen of South 
Carolina to be a Republican there as it is for 
a good citizen of Massachusetts to be a Democrat 
here. 

[ From an Address at Hiram College.] 

Our great dangers are not from without. We 
do not live by the consent of any other nation. 
We must look within to find elements of danger. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 451 

[From a Speech on the Ninth Census.] 
Statesmanship consists rather in removing causes 
than in punishing, or evading results. 

[From a Speech, December 10, 1878.] 
The man who wants to serve his country must 
put himself in the line of its leading thought, and 
that is the restoration of business, trade, com- 
merce, industry, sound political economy, hard 
money, and the payment of all obligations ; and 
the man who can add anything in the direction of 
accomplishing any of these purposes is a public 
benefactor. 

The scientific spirit has cast out the Demons and 
presented us with Nature, clothed in her right mind 
and living under the reign of law. It has given 
us for the sorceries of the alchemist, the beautiful 
laws of chemistry ; for the dreams of the astrol- 
oger, the sublime truths of astronomy ; for the 
wild visions of cosmogony, the monumental rec- 
ords of geology ; for the anarchy of diabolism, 
the laws of God. 

We no longer attribute the untimely death of 
infants to the sin of Adam, but to bad nursing and 
ignorance. 

Truth is so related and correlated that no depart- 
ment of her realm is wholly isolated. 



452 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Truth is the food of the human spirit, which 
could not grow in its majestic proportions without 
clearer and more truthful views of God and his 
universe. 

Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a 
war that has no ideas behind it is simply brutality. 

I love to believe that no heroic sacrifice is ever 
lost, that the characters of men are moulded and 
inspired by what their fathers have done ; that, 
treasured up in American souls are all the uncon- 
scious influences of the great deeds of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, from Agincourt to Bunker Hill. 

Eternity alone will reveal to the human race its 
debt of gratitude to the peerless and immortal name 
of Washington. 

I doubt if any man equalled Samuel Adams in 
formulating and uttering the fierce, clear, and inex- 
orable loo-ic of the Revolution. 

The last eight decades have witnessed an Empire 
spring up in the full panoply of lusty life, from a 
trackless wilderness. 

In their struo^'le with the forces of nature, the 
ability to labor was the richest patrimony of the 
colonist. 

The granite hills are not so changeless and abid- 
ing as the restless sea. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 453 

To him a battle was neither an earthquake, nor 
a volcano, nor a chaos of brave men and frantic 
horses involved in vast explosions of gunpowder. 
It was rather a calm rational combination of force 
against force. — Oration on Geo. II Thomas. 

After the fire and blood of the battle-fields have 
disappeared, nowhere does war show its destroy- 
ing power so certainly and so relentlessly as in the 
columns which represent the taxes and expendi- 
tures of the nation. 

[From a Speech, June 2, 1879.] 

The Resumption of Specie Payments closes the 
most memorable epoch in our history since the 
birth of the Union. Eighteen hundred and sixty- 
one and eighteen hundred and seventy-nine are the 
opposite shores of that turbulent sea whose storms 
so seriously threatened with shipwreck the pros- 
perity, the honor, and the life of the nation. But 
the horrors and dangers of the middle-passage 
have at last been mastered ; and out of the night 
and tempest the Republic has landed en the shore 
of this new year, bringing with it union and lib- 
erty, honor and peace. 

Our country needs not only a national but an 
international currency. 



454 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Let us have equality of dollars before the law, 
so that the trinity of our political creed shall be — 
equal States, equal men, and equal dollars through- 
out the Union. 



[Address, at the Memorial Meeting, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, January 1G, 1879.] 

No page of human history is so instructive and 
significant as the record of those early influences 
which develop the character and direct the lives of 
eminent men. To every man of great original 
power, there comes in early youth, a moment of 
sudden discovery — of self recognition — when his 
own nature is revealed to himself, when he catches, 
for the first time, a strain of that immortal song to 
which his own spirit answers, and which becomes 
thenceforth and forever the inspiration of his life — 
" Like noble music unto noble words." 

More than a hundred years ago, in Strasbourg, 
on the Rhine, in obedience to the commands of his 
father, a German lad was reluctantly studying the 
mysteries of the civil law, but feeding his spirit as 
best he could upon the formal and artificial poetry 
of his native land, when a page of William Shakes- 
peare met his eye, and changed the whole current 
of his life. Abandoning the law, he created and 
crowned with an immortal name the grandest epoch 
of German literature. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 455 

Recording his own experience, he says : 

At the first touch of Shakespeare's genius, I made the 
glad confession that something inspiring hovered above me. 
. . . The first page of his that I read made me his for life ; 
and when I had finished a single play, I stood like one bom 
blind, on whom a miraculous hand bestows sight in a mo- 
ment. I saw, I felt, in the most vivid manner that my ex- 
istence was infinitely expanded. 

This Old World experience of Goethe's was 
strikingly reproduced, though under different con- 
ditions and with different results, in the early life 
of Joseph Henry. You have just heard the inci- 
dent worthily recounted ; but let us linger over it 
a moment. An orphan boy of sixteen, of tough 
Scotch fibre, laboring for his own support at the 
handicraft of the jeweler, unconscious of his great 
power, delighted with romance and the drama, 
dreaming of a possible career on the stage, his 
attention was suddenly arrested by a single page 
of an humble book of science which chanced to 
fall into his hands. It was not the flash of a poetic 
vision which aroused him. It was the voice of 
great Nature calling her child. With quick recog- 
nition and glad reverence his spirit responded; 
and from that moment to the end of his long 
and honored life, Joseph Henry was the devoted 
student of science, the faithful interpreter of 
nature. 

To those who knew his gentle spirit, it is not 



456 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

surprising that ever afterward he kept the little 
volume near him, and cherished it as the source of 
his first inspiration. In the maturity of his fame 
he recorded on its fly-leaf his gratitude. Note his 
words : 

This book, under Providence, has exerted a remarkable 
influence on my life. ... It opened to me a new world of 
thought and enjoyment, invested things before almost unno- 
ticed with the highest interest, fixed my mind on the study 
of nature, and caused me to resolve, at the time of reading 
it, that I would devote my life to the acquisition of 
knowledge. 

We have heard from his venerable associates 
with what resolute perseverance he trained his 
mind and marshalled his powers for the higher 
realms of science. He was the first American after 
Franklin who made a series of successful original 
experiments in electricity and magnetism. He 
entered the mighty line of Volta, Galvani, Oersted, 
Davy, and Ampere, the great exploring philoso- 
phers of the world, and added to their work a final 
great discovery, which made the electro-magnetic 
telegraph possible. 

It remained only for the inventor to construct, 
an instrument and an alphabet. Professor Henry 
refused to reap any pecuniary rewards from his 
great discovery, but gave freely to mankind what 
nature and science had given to him. The vener- 
able gentleman of almost eighty years, who 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 457 

just addressed us so eloquently, has portrayed 
the difficulties which beset the government in its 
attempt to determine how it should wisely and 
worthily execute the trust of Sinithson. It was a 
perilous moment for the credit of America when 
that bequest was made. In his large catholicity 
of mind, Smithson did not trammel the bequest with 
conditions. In nine words he set forth its object 
— ' ' for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
anions: men." He asked and believed that America 
would interpret his wish aright, and with the lib- 
eral wisdom of science 

For ten years Congress wrestled with those nine 
words of Smithson and could not handle them. 
Some political philosophers of that period held 
that we had no constitutional authority to accept 
the gift at all [laughter] and proposed to send it 
back to England. Every conceivable proposition 
was made. The colleges clutched at it ; the 
libraries wanted it ; the publication societies de- 
sired to scatter it. The fortunate settlement of 
the question was this : that, after ten years of 
wrangling, Congress was wise enough to acknowl- 
edge its own ignorance, and authorized a body of 
men to find some one who knew how to settle it. 
[Applause.] And these men were wise enough 
to choose your great comrade to undertake the 
task. Sacrificing his brilliant prospects as a dis- 
coverer, he undertook the difficult work. He 



458 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEEVICES OF 

drafted a paper, in which he offered an interpre- 
tation of the will of Smithson, mapped out a plan 
which would meet the demands of science, and 
submitted it to the suffrage of the republic of 
scientific scholars. After due deliberation it re- 
ceived the almost unanimous approval of the 
scientific world. With faith and sturdy persever- 
ance, he adhered to the plan and steadily resisted 
all attempts to overthrow it. 

In the thirty-two years during which he admin- 
istered the great trust, he never swerved from his 
first purpose ; and he succeeded at last in realizing 
the ideas with which he started. 

The germ of our political institutions, the pri- 
mary cell from which they were evolved, was in the 
New England town, and the vital force, the inform- 
ing soul of the town, was the Town Meeting, 
which for all local concerns was king, lords, and 
commons in all. 

It is as much the duty of all good men to 
protect and defend the reputation of worthy public 
servants as to detect public rascals. 

Political parties, like poets, are born, not made. 
No act of political mechanics, however wise, can 
manufacture to order and make a platform, and 
put a party on it which will live and flourish. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 459 



[On the Relation of the Government to Science, February 
11, 1879.] 

What ouo-ht to be the relation of the National 
Government to science ? What, if anything, ought 
we to do in the way of promoting science ? For 
example, if we have the power, would it be wise 
for Congress to appropriate money out of the 
Treasury, to employ naturalists to find out all that 
is to be known of our American birds? Orni- 
thology is a delightful and useful study ; but would 
it be wise for Congress to make an appropriation 
for the advancement of that science? In my 
judgment, manifestly not. We would thereby 
make one favored class of men the rivals of all the 
ornithologists who, in their private way, following 
the bent of their genius, may be working out the 
results of science in that field. I have no doubt 
that an appropriation out of our Treasury for that 
purpose would be a positive injury to the advance- 
ment of science, just as an appropriation to estab- 
lish a church would work injury to religion. 

Generally, the desire of our scientific men is to 
be let alone to work in free competition with all 
the scientific men of the world ; to develop their 
own results, and get the credit of them each for 
himself ; not to have the Government enter the lists 
as the rival of private enterprise. 

As a general principal, therefore, the United 



460 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

States ousdit not to interfere in matters of science, 
but should leave its development to the free, vol- 
untary action of our great third estate, the people 
themselves. 

In this non-interference theory of the Govern- 
ment, I do not go to the extent of saying that we 
should do nothing for education — for primary 
education. That comes under another consider- 
ation — the necessity of the nation to protect 
itself, and the consideration that it is cheaper and 
wiser to give education than to build jails. But I 
am speaking now of the higher sciences. 

To the general principle I have stated, there are 
a few obvious exceptions which should be clearly 
understood when we legislate on the subject. In 
the first place, the Government should aid all sorts 
of scientific inquiry that are necessary to the in- 
telligent exercise of its own functions. 

For example, as we are authorized by the Con- 
stitution and compelled by necessity to build and 
maintain light-houses on our coast and establish 
fog-signals, we are bound to make all necessary 
scientific inquiries in reference to light and its 
laws, sound and its laws — to do whatever in the 
way of science is necessary to achieve the best 
results in lighting our coasts and warning our 
mariners of danger. So, when we are building 
iron-clads for our navy or casting guns for our 
army, we ought to know all that is scientifically 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 461 

possible to be known about the strength of ma- 
terials and the laws of mechanics which apply to 
such structures. In short, wherever in exercising 
any of the necessary functions of the Government 
scientific inquiry is needed, let us make it, to the 
fullest extent, and at the public expense. 

There is another exception to the general rule 
of leaving science to the voluntary action of the 
people. Wherever any great popular interest, 
affecting whole classes, possibly all classes of the 
community, imperatively need scientific investiga- 
tion, and private enterprise cannot accomplish it, 
we may wisely intervene and help where the Con- 
stitution gives us authority. For example, in 
discovering the origin of yellow-fever and the 
methods of preventing its ravages, the nation 
should do, for the good of all, what neither the 
States nor individuals can accomplish. I might 
perhaps include in a third exception those inquiries 
which, in consequence of their great magnitude 
and cost, cannot be successfully made by private 
individuals. Outside these three classes of in- 
quiries, the Government ought to keep its hands 
off, and leave scientific experiment and inquiry to 
the free competition of those bright, intelligent 
men whose genius leads them into the fields of 
research. 

And I suspect, when we read the report of our 
commissioner to the late Paris Exposition, which 



462 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

shows such astonishing results, so creditable to our 
country, so honorable to the genius of our people, 
it will be found, in any final analysis of causes, 
that the superiority of Americans in that great Ex- 
position resulted mainly from their superior free- 
dom, and the greater competition between mind 
and mind untrammelled by Government interfer- 
ence ; I believe it will be found we are best 
serving: the cause of religion and science, and all 
those great primary rights which we did not dele- 
gate to the Congress or the States, but left the 
people free to enjoy and maintain them. 

[Speech on the National Election.] 

The great danger which threatens this country is, 
that our sovereign may be dethroned or destroyed 
by corruption. In any monarchy of the world, if 
the sovereign be slain or become lunatic, it is easy 
to put another in his place, for the sovereign is a 
person. But our sovereign is the whole body of 
voters. If you kill, or corrupt, or render lunatic 
our sovereign, there is no successor, no regent to 
take his place. The source of our sovereign's 
supreme danger, the point where his life is vul- 
nerable, is at the ballot-box, where his will is 
declared ; and if we cannot stand by that cradle 
of our sovereign's heir-apparent and protect it to 
the uttermost against all assassins and assailants, 
we have no government and no safety for the future. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 463 



[Remarks, in the House of Representatives, February 11, 
1879, on the Life and Character of Gustave Schleicher.] 

We are accustomed to say, and we have heard 
to-night, that he [Gustave Schleicher] was born 
on foreign soil. In one sense that is true ; and yet 
in a very proper historic sense he was born in our 
fatherland. One of the ablest of recent historians 
begins his opening volume with the declaration that 
England is not the fatherland of the Engligh-spcak- 
ing people, but the ancient home, the real father- 
land of our race, is the ancient forests of Germany. 
The same thought was suggested by Montesquieu 
long ago, when he declared in his Spirit of Laws 
that the British constitution came out of the woods 
of Germany. 

To this day the Teutonic races maintain the 
same noble traits that Tacitus describes in his ad- 
mirable history of the manners and character of the 
Germans. We may therefore say that the friend 
whose memory we honor to-night is one of the 
elder brethren of our race. He came to America 
direct from our fatherland, and not, like our own 
fathers, by the way of England. 

"We who were born and have passed all our lives 
in this wide New World can hardly appreciate the 
influences that surrounded his early life. Born on 
the borders of that great forest of Germany, the 
Odenwald, filled as it is with the memories and 



464 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

traditions of centuries, in which are mingled 
Scandinavian mythology, legends of the middle 
ages, romances of feudalism and chivalry, histories 
of barons and kings, and the struggles of a brave 
people for a better civilization ; reared under the 
institutions of a strong, semi-despotic government ; 
devoting his early life to personal culture, enter- 
ing at an early age the University of Giessen, 
venerable with its two and a half centuries of ex- 
istence, with a library of four hundred thousand 
volumes at his hand, with a great museum of the 
curiosities and mysteries of nature to study, he fed 
his eager spirit upon the rich culture which that 
Old World could give him, and at twenty-four 
years of age, in company with a band of thirty- 
seven young students, like himself, cultivated, 
earnest, liberty-loving almost to the verge of com- 
munism — and who of us would not be communists 
in a despotism? — he came to this country, at- 
tracted by one of the most wild and romantic 
pictures of American history, the picture of Texas 
as it existed near forty years ago ; the country dis- 
covered by La Salle at the end of his long and 
perilous voyage from Quebec to the northern 
lakes and from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico ; 
the country possessed alternately by the Spanish 
and the French and then by Mexico ; the country 
made memorable by such names as Blair, Houston, 
Albert Sidney Johnson, and Mirabeau Lamar, per- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 465 

haps as adventurous and daring spirits as ever as- 
sembled on any spot of the earth ; a country that 
achieved its freedom by heroism never surpassed, 
and which maintained its perilous independence for 
ten years in spite of border enemies and European 
intrigues. 

It is said that a society was formed in Europe 
embracing in its membership men of high rank, 
even members of royal families, for the purpose of 
colonizing the new Republic of the Lone Star, and 
making it a dependency of Europe under their 
patronage ; but without sharing in their designs, 
some twenty thousand Germans found their way 
to the new Republic, and among these young 
Schleicher came. 

[From the " North American Review," March, 1879.] 

The ballot was given to the negro not so much 
to enable him to govern others as to prevent others 
from misgoverning him. Suffrage is the sAvord 
and shield of our law, the best armament that 
liberty offers to the citizen. 

[From the Same, June, 1879.] 

If our republic were blotted from the earth and 
from the memory of mankind, and if no record of 
its history survived, except a copy of our revenue; 
laws and our appropriation bills for a single year r 
the political philosopher would be able from these- 



466 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

materials alone to reconstruct a large part of our 
history, and sketch with considerable accuracy the 
character and spirit of our institutions. 

[Speech in Congress, on the first anniversary of Mr. Lin- 
coln's death.] 

There are times in the history of men and 
nations when they stand so near the veil that sep- 
arates mortals and immortals, time from eternity, 
and men from their God, that they can almost 
hear the breathings, and feel the pulsations of the 
heart of the Infinite. Through such a time has 
this nation passed. When two hundred and fifty 
thousand brave spirits passed from the field of 
honor through that thin veil to the presence 
of God, and when at last its parting folds ad- 
mitted the martyred President to the company of 
the dead heroes of the republic, the nation stood 
so near the veil that the whispers of God were 
heard by the children of men. Awe-stricken by 
his voice, the American people knelt in tearful 
reverence, and made a solemn covenant with God 
and each other that this nation should be saved 
from its enemies ; that all its glories should be 
restored, and on the ruins of slavery and treason 
the temples of freedom and justice should be built, 
and stand forever. It remains for us, consecrated 
by that great event, and under that covenant with 
God, to keep the faith, to go forward in the great 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 467 

work until it shall be completed. Following the 
lead of that great man, and obeying the high be- 
hests of God, let us remember 

"He has sounded forth his trumpet, that shall never call 
retreat ; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment- 
scat ; 
Be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant, my feet; 
For God is marching on." 

Every great political party that has clone this 
country any good has given to it some immortal 
ideas that have outlived all the members of that 
party. 

[Speech at Cleveland, Ohio, October 11, 1879. — Resump- 
tion of Specie Payments.] 

Now, what has been the trouble with us? 
I860 was one shore of prosperity, and 1879 the 
other ; and between these two high shores haa 
flowed the broad, deep, dark river of fire and 
blood and disaster through which this nation has 
been compelled to wade, and in whose depths it 
has been almost suffocated and drowned. In the 
darkness of that terrible passage we carried liberty 
in our arms ; we bore the Union on our shoulders ; 
and we bore in our hearts and on our arms what 
was even better than liberty and Union — we bore 
the faith, and honor, and public trust of tins 
mighty Nation. And never, until we came up out 



468 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

of the dark waters, out of the darkness of that 
terrible current, and planted our feet upon the 
solid shore of 1879 — never, I say, till then could 
this country look back to the other shore and feel 
that its feet were on solid ground, and then look 
forward to the rising uplands of perpetual peace 
and prosperity that should know no diminution 
in the years to come. 

[Speech at Cleveland, October 11, 1879. — Appeal to 
Young Men.] 

Now, I tell you, young man, don't vote the 
Republican ticket just because your father votes 
it. Don't vote the Democratic ticket, even if he 
does vote it. But let me give you this one word 
of advice, as you are about to pitch your tent in 
one of the great political camps. Your life is full 
and buoyant with hope now, and I beg you, when 
you pitch your tent, pitch it among the living and 
not among the dead. If you are at all inclined to 
pitch it among the Democratic people and with 
that party, let me go with you for a moment while 
we survey the ground where I hope you will not 
shortly lie. It is a sad place, young man, for you 
to put your young life into. It is to me far more 
like a graveyard than like a camp for the living:. 
Look at it ! It is billowed all over with the graves 
of dead issues, of buried opinions, of exploded 
theories, of disgraced doctrines. You cannot live 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 469 

in comfort in such a place. Why, look here ! 
Here is a little double mound. I look down on it 
and I read, " Sacred to the memory of Squatter 
Sovereignty and the Dred Scott decision." A 
million and a half of Democrats voted for that, but 
it has been dead fifteen years — died by the hand 
of Abraham Lincoln, and here it lies. Young man, 
that is not the place for you. 

But look a little farther. Here is another mon- 
ument — a black tomb — and beside it, as our 
distinguished friend said, there towers to the sky 
a monument of four million pairs of human fetters 
taken from the arms of slaves, and I read on its 
little headstone this : " Sacred to the memory of 
human slavery." For forty years of its infamous 
life the Democratic party taught that it was di- 
vine — God's institution. They defended it, they 
stood around it, they followed it to its grave as a 
mourner. But here it lies, dead by the hand of 
Abraham Lincoln. Dead by the power of the 
Republican party. Dead by the justice of Al- 
mighty God. Don't camp there, young man. 

But here is another — a little brimstone tomb 
— and I read across its yellow face in lurid, 
bloody lines these words : " Sacred to the memory 
of State Sovereignty and Secession." Twelve mil- 
lions of Democrats mustered around it in arms to 
keep it alive ; but here it lies, shot to death by 
the million guns of the Republic. Here it lies, its 



470 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

shrine burnt to ashes under the blazing rafters of 
the burning Confederacy. It is dead ! I would 
not have you stay in there a minute, even in this 
balmy night air, to look at such a place. 

But just before I leave it I discover a new-made 
grave, a little mound — short. The grass has 
hardly sprouted over it, and all around it I see 
torn pieces of paper with the word "fiat" on them, 
and I look down in curiosity, wondering what the 
little grave is, and I read on it : " Sacred to the 
memory of the Rag Baby nursed in the brain of 
all the fanaticism of the world, rocked by Thomas 
Ewing, George H. Pendleton, Samuel Gary, and 
a few others throughout the land." But it died 
on the 1st of January, 1879, and the one hundred 
and forty millions of gold that God made, and not 
fiat power, he upon its little carcass to keep it 
down forever. 

Oh, young man, come out of that ! That is no 
place in which to put your young life. Come out, 
and come over into this camp of liberty, of order, 
of law, of justice, of freedom, of all that is glorious 
under these night stars. 

Is there any death here in our camp ? Yes ! 
yes ! Three hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, 
the noblest band that ever trod the earth, died to 
make this camp a camp of glory and of liberty 
forever. 

But there are no dead issues here. There are 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 471 

no dead ideas here. Hang out our banner from 
under the blue sky this night until it shall sweep 
the green turf under your feet ! It hangs over our 
camp. Eead away up under the stars the inscrip- 
tion wo have written on it, lo ! these twenty-five 
years. 

Twenty-five years ago the Eepublican party was 
married to Liberty, and this is our silver wedding, 
fellow-citizens. A worthily married pair love each 
other better on the day of their silver wedding 
than on the day of their first espousals ; and we 
are truer to Liberty to-day, and dearer to God 
than we were when we spoke our first word of 
liberty. Eead away up under the sky across our 
starry banner that first word we uttered twenty- 
five years ago! What was it? "Slavery shall 
never extend over another foot of the territories 
of the creat West." Is that dead or alive ? Alive, 
thank God, forevermore ! And truer to-night than 
it was the hour it w T as written ! Then, it was a 
hope, a promise, a purpose. To-night it is equal 
with the stars — immortal history and immortal 
truth. 

Come down the glorious steps of our banner. 
Every great record we have made we have vindi- 
cated with our blood and with our truth. It 
sweeps the ground, and it touches the stars. Come 
there, young man, and put in your young life 
where all is living, and where nothing is dead but 



472 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the heroes that defended it ! I think these young 
men will do that. 

[From a Speech, January 14, 1880.] 

I say, moreover, that the flowers that bloom 
over the garden-wall of party politics are the 
sweetest and most fragrant that bloom in the gai- 
dens of this world, and where we can fairly pluck 
them and enjoy their fragrance, it is manly and 
delightful to do so. 

[Letter of Acceptance, July 10, 1880.] 

Next in importance to freedom and justice is 
popular education, without which neither justice 
nor freedom can be permanently maintained. Its 
interests are intrusted to the States, and to the 
voluntary action of the people. Whatever help 
the Nation can justly afford should be generously 
given to aid the States in' supporting common 
schools ; but it would be unjust to our people, and 
dangerous to our institutions, to apply any portion 
of the revenues of the Nation or of the States to 
the support of sectarian schools. The separation 
of the Church and the State in everything relating 
to taxation should be absolute. 

Our country cannot be independent unless its 
people, with their abundant natural resources, 
possess the requisite skill at any time to clothe, 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 473 

arm, and equip themselves for war, and in time of 
peace to produce all the necessary implements of 
labor. It was the manifest intention of the found- 
ers of the Government to provide for the common 
defence, not by standing armies alone, but by rais- 
ing among the people a greater army of artisans, 
whose intelligence and skill should powerfully con- 
tribute to the safety and glory of the nation. 

Over this vast horizon of interests, North and 
South, above all party prejudices and personal 
wrong-doing, above our battle hosts and our vic- 
torious cause, above all that we hoped for and won, 
or you hoped for and lost, is the grand onward 
movement of the Republic to perpetuate its glory, 
to save Liberty alive, to preserve exact and equal 
justice to all, to protect and foster all these price- 
less principles until they shall have ciystallized 
into the form of enduring law and become in- 
wrought into the life and habits of our People. 

I look forward with joy and hope to the day 
when our brave people, one in heart, one in their 
aspirations for freedom and peace, shall see that 
the darkness through which we have travelled 
was but a part of that stern but beneficent disci- 
pline by which the great Disposer of events has been 
leading us on to a higher and nobler national life. 

The hope of our National perpetuity rests upon 



474 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

that perfect individual Freedom which shall forever 
keep up the circuit of perpetual change. 

Whatever opinions we may now entertain of the 
Federalists as a part}', it is unquestionably true that 
we are indebted to them for the strong points of the 
Constitution and for the stable government they 
founded and strengthened during the administra- 
tion of Washington and Adams. 

While it is true that no party can stand upon its 
past record alone, yet it is also true that its past 
shows the spirit and character of the organization, 
and enables us to judge what it will probably do 
in the future. 

Parties have an organic life and spirit of their 
own — an individuality and character which out- 
live the men who compose them ; and the spirit 
and traditions of a party should be considered in 
dcterminino- their fitness for mana^-ins; the affairs 
of the nation. 

It is a safe and wise rule to follow in all legisla- 
tion, that whatever the people can do without legis- 
lation will be better done than by the intervention 
of the State and Nation. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 475 



[From a Speech, at the unveiling of a Soldiers' Monument, 
Painesville, Ohio, July 4, 1880.] 

I once entered a house in old Massachusetts, 
where over its doors were two crossed swords. 
One was the sword carried by the grandfather of 
its owner on the field of Bunker Hill, and the 
other was the sword carried by the English grand- 
sire of the wife on the same field, and on the other 
side of the conflict. Under those crossed swords, 
in the restored harmony of domestic peace, lived 
a happy and contented and free family, under the 
light of our republican liberties. I trust the time 
is not far distant when, under the crossed swords 
and the locked shields of Americans, north and 
south, our people shall sleep in peace and rise in 
liberty, love, and harmony, under the union of 
our flag of the stars and stripes. 

[Speech to a Delegation of four hundred Young Men — 
First Voters — of Cleveland, Ohio, at Mentor, October 8, 

1880.] 

I have not so far left the coast of youth 

to travel inland but that I can very well remember 
the state of young manhood, from an experience 
in it of some years, and there is nothing to me in 
this world so inspiring as the possibilities that lie 
locked up in the head and breast of a young man. 
The hopes that lie before him, the great inspira- 



476 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tions around him, the great aspirations above him, 
all these things, with the untried pathway of life 
opening up its difficulties and dangers, inspire him 
to courage, and force, and work. 

[From a Speech in New York, August 6, 1880.] 

Ideas outlive men. Ideas outlive all 

things, and you who fought in the war for the 
Union fought for immortal ideas, and by their 
might you crowned our war with victory. But 
victory was worth nothing except for the fruits 
that were under it, in it, and above it. We meet 
to-night as veterans and comrades, to stand sacred 
guard around the truths for which we fought, and 
while we have life to meet and grasp the hands of 
a comrade, we will stand by the great truths of the 
war ; and, comrades, among the convictions of that 
war which have sunk deep in our hearts there are 
some that we can never forget. Think of the 
great elevating spirit of the war itself. We gath- 
ered the boys from all our farms, and shops, and 
stores, and schools, and homes, from all over the 
Republic, and they went forth unknown to fame, 
but returned enrolled on the roster of immortal 
heroes. They went in the spirit of those soldiers 
of Henry at Agincourt, of whom he said, " Who 
this day sheds his blood with me, to-day shall be 
my brother. Were he ne'er so vile, this day shall 
gentle his condition ; " and it did gentle the condi- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 477 

tion and elevate the heart of every working sol- 
dier who fought in it, and he shall be our brother 
for evermore ; and this thing we will remember ; 
we will remember our allies who fought with us. 
Soon after the great struggle began we looked be- 
hind the army of white rebels and saw 4,000,000 
of black people condemned to toil as slaves for our 
enemies, and we found that the hearts of this 
4,000,000 were God-inspired with the spirit of 
freedom, and that they were our friends. We 
have seen white men betray the flag and fight to 
kill the Union, but in all that long, dreary war we 
never saw a traitor in a black skin. Our prisoners, 
escaping from the starvation of prison, and fleeing 
to our lines by' the light of the North-star, never 
feared to enter the black man's cabin and ask for 
bread. In all that period of suffering and danger 
no Union soldier was ever betrayed by a black man 
or woman, and now that we have made them free, 
so long as we live we will stand by these black 
citizens. "We will stand by them until the sun of 
liberty, fixed in the firmament of our Constitution, 
shall shine with equal rays uponevery man, black 
or white, throughout the Union. Now, fellow- 
citizens, fellow-soldiers, in this there is all the 
beneficence of eternal justice, and by this we will 
stand forever, 



478 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE 

[Remarks at Chatauqua, August 1, 1880.] 

I would rather be defeated than make capital 
out of my religion. 

[From an Address at the Anniversary of Hiram College, 
directly after the Chicago Convention, 1880.] 

Fellow-citizens, Neighbors, and Friends of 
many years : It always has given me pleasure to 
come back here and look upon these faces. It has 
always given me new courage and new friends. It 
has brought back a large share of that richness 
that belongs to those things out of which come the 
joys of life. While I have been sitting here this 
afternoon, watching your faces and listening to the 
very interesting address which has just been de- 
livered, it occurred to me that the best thing you 
have that all men envy — I mean all men who 
have reached the meridian of life — is, perhaps, 
the thing that you care for less, and that is your 
leisure, — the leisure you have to think ; the 
leisure you have to be let alone ; the leisure you 
have to throw the plummet with your hand, and 
sound their depths and find out what is below ; 
the leisure you have to walk about the towers of 
yourselves, and find how strong they are, or how 
weak they are, and determine what needs building 
up, and determine how to shape them, that you 
may make the final being that you are to be. Oh, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 479 

these hours of building ! If the superior beings 
of the universe would look down upon the world 
to find the most interesting object, it would be the 
unfinished, unformed character of young men, or 
of young women. These behind me have, proba- 
bly, in the main settled such questions. Those 
who have passed into middle manhood and middle 
womanhood are about what they shall always be, 
and there is little left of interest or curiosity as to 
our development. But to your young and yet 
uninformed natures no man knows the possibilities 
that lie treasured up in your hearts and intellects ; 
and while you are working up these possibilities 
with that splendid leisure, you are the most envied 
of all classes of men and women in the world. I 
congratulate you on your leisure. I commend you 
to keep it as your gold, as your wealth, as your 
means, out of which you can demand all the pos- 
sible treasures that God laid down when He 
formed your nature, and unveiled and devel- 
oped the possibility of your future. This place is 
too full of memories for me to trust myself to speak 
upon, and I will not; but I draw again to-day, 
as I have for a quarter of a century, evidences of 
strength and affection from the people who gather 
in this place, and I thank you for the permission 
to see you, and meet you, and greet you, as I 
have done to-day. 



480 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

president Garfield's first official words to 
the country. 

Fellow Citizens, — We stand to-day upon an 
eminence which overlooks a hundred years of 
national life, a century crowded with perils, but 
crowned with the triumphs of liberty and law. 
Before continuing the onward march, let us pause 
on this height for a moment to strengthen our 
faith and renew our hope by a glance at the path- 
way along which our people have travelled. It is 
now three days more than a hundred years since 
the adoption of the first written Constitution of the 
United States, the articles of confederation and 
perpetual union. The new Republic was then 
beset with danger on every hand. It had not 
conquered a place in the family of nations. The 
decisive battle of the war for independence, whose 
centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully 
celebrated at Yorktown, had not yet been fought. 
The colonists were struggling not only against the 
armies of a great nation, but against the settled 
opinions of mankind, for the world did not believe 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 481 

that the supreme authority of government could be 
safely intrusted to the guardianship of the people 
themselves. We cannot overestimate the fervent 
love of liberty, the intelligent courage and the 
saving; common sense with which our fathers made 
the great experiment of self-government. When 
they found, after a short trial, that the confederacy 
of States was too weak to meet the necessities of 
a vigorous and expanding republic, they boldly 
set it aside, and in its stead established a national 
union founded directly upon the will of the 
people, endowed with future powers of self- 
preservation, and with ample authority for the 
accomplishment of its great objects. Under this 
Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been 
enlarged, the foundations of order and peace have 
been strengthened, and the growth in all the 
better elements of national life has vindicated the 
wisdom of the founders, and given new hopes to 
their descendants. Under this Constitution our 
people long ago made themselves safe against 
danger from without, and secured for their mari- 
ners and flag equality of rights on all the seas. 
Under this Constitution twenty-five States have 
been added to the Union, with constitutions and 
laws framed and enforced by their own citizens to 
secure the manifold blessings of local self-govern- 
ment. The jurisdiction of this Constitution now 
covers an area fifty times greater than that of the 



482 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

original thirteen States, and a population twenty 
times greater than that of 1780. The supreme 
trial of the Constitution came at last under the 
tremendous pressure of civil war. We ourselves 
are witnesses that the Union emerged from the 
blood and tire of that conflict purified and made 
stronger for all the beneficent purposes of good 
government. 

And now, at the close of this first century of 
growth, with the inspirations of its history in their 
hearts, our people have lately reviewed the condi- 
tion of their nation, passed judgment upon the 
conduct and opinions of political parties, and have 
registered their will concernins; the future admin- 
istration of the Government. To interpret and to 
execute that will in accordance with the Constitu- 
tion is the paramount duty of the Executive. 
Even from this brief review it is manifest that the 
nation is resolutely facing to the front, resolved to 
employ its best energies in developing the great 
possibilities of the future. Sacredly preserving 
whatever has been gained to liberty and good 
government during the century, our people are 
determined to leave behind them all those bitter 
controversies, including things which have been 
irrevocably settled, and the further discussion of 
which can only stir up strife and delay the onward 
march. The supremacy of the nation and its 
laws should be no longer a subject of debate. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 483 

That discussion which for half a century threat- 
ened the existence of the Union was closed at last 
in the high court of war by a decree from which 
there is no appeal, that the Constitution and the 
laws made in pursuance thereof are and shall 
continue to be the supreme law of the land, bind- 
ing alike upon the States and the people. This 
decree does not disturb the autonomy of the States 
nor interfere with any of their necessary rules of 
local self-government, but it does fix and establish 
the permanent supremacy of the Union. The 
will of the nation speaking with the voice of battle 
and through the amended Constitution has fulfilled 
the great promise of 1776 by proclaiming " Liberty 
throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof." 
The elevation of the negro race from slavery to 
the full rights of citizenship is the most important 
political change we have known since the adoption 
of the Constitution of 1787. No thoughtful man 
can fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon our 
institutions and people. It has freed us from the 
perpetual danger of war and dissolution. It has 
added immensely to the moral and industrial forces 
of our people. It has liberated the master as well 
as the slave from a relation which wronged and 
enfeebled both. It has surrendered to their own 
guardianship the manhood of more than 5,000,000 
of people, and has opened to each one of them a 
career of freedom and usefulness. It has given 



484 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

new inspiration to the power of self-help in both 
races, by making labor more honorable to the one 
and more necessary to the other. The influence 
of this force will grow greater and bear richer 
fruit with the coming years. No doubt the great 
change has caused serious disturbance to our 
Southern community. This is to be deplored, 
though it was unavoidable. But those who resisted 
the change should remember, that under our 
institutions there was no middle ground for the 
negro race between slavery and equal citizenship. 
There can be no permanent disfranchised peasantry 
in the United States ; freedom can never yield its 
fullness of blessings so long as the law or its 
administration places the smallest obstacles in the 
pathway of any virtuous citizen. The emanci- 
pated race has already made remarkable progress ; 
with unquestioning devotion to the Union, with a 
patience and gentleness not born of fear, they 
have " followed the li^ht as God cave them to see 
the light." They are rapidly laying the material 
foundations for self-support, widening the circle of 
intelligence, and beginning to enjoy the blessings 
that gather around the homes of industrious poor. 
They deserve the generous encouragement of all 
good men. So far as my authority can lawfully 
extend, they shall enjoy the full and equal pro- 
tection of the Constitution and the laws. 

The free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 485 

question, and a frank statement of the issue may 
aid its solution. It is alleged, that in many com- 
munities negro citizens are practically denied the 
freedom of the ballot. In so far as the truth of 
this allegation is admitted, it is answered, that in 
many places honest local government is impossible 
if the mass of uneducated negroes are allowed to 
vote. These are grave allegations. So far as the 
latter is true, it is the only palliation that can be 
offered for opposing the freedom of the ballot. 
Bad local government is certainly a great evil 
which ought to be prevented, but to violate the 
freedom and sanctity of the suffrage is more than 
an evil ; it is a crime, which, if persisted in, will 
• destroy the government itself. Suicide is not a 
remedy. If in other lands it be high treason to 
compass the death of the king, it should be 
counted no less a crime here to strangle our 
sovereign power and stifle its voice. It has been 
said that unsettled questions have no pity for the 
repose of nations. It should be said, with the 
utmost emphasis, that this question of the suffrage 
will never give repose or safety to the States of 
the nation, until each, within its own jurisdiction, 
makes, and keeps the ballot free and pure by the 
strong sanctions of the law. But the danger which 
arises from ignorance in the voter cannot be denied. 
It covers a field far wider than that of negro 
suffrage and the present condition of that race. It 



486 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

is a danger that lurks and hides in the sources and 
fountains of power in every State. We have no 
standard by which to measure the disaster that 
may be brought upon % us by ignorance and vice in 
the citizens, when joined to corruption and fraud 
in the suffrage. The voters of the Union who 
make and unmake constitutions, and upon whom 
will hang the destinies of our governments, can 
transmit their supreme authority to no successor 
save the coming generation of voters, who are the 
sole heirs of sovereign power. If that generation 
comes to its inheritance blinded by ignorance and 
corrupted by vice, the fall of the republic will be 
certain and remediless. The census has already 
sounded the alarm, in the appalling figures which 
mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy 
has risen among our voters and their children. 
To the South, this question is of supreme impor- 
tance, but the responsibility for the existence of 
slavery did not rest upon the South alone ; the 
nation itself is responsible for the extension of the 
suffrage, and is under special obligations to aid in 
removing the illiteracy which it has added to the 
voting population. 

For the North and South alike there is but one 
remedy. All the constitutional power of the 
nation and of the States, and all the volunteer 
forces of the people, should be summoned to meet 
this danger by the saving influence of universal 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 487 

education. It is the high privilege and sacred 
duty of those now living to educate their succes- 
sors, and fit them by intelligence and virtue, for 
the inheritance which awaits them. In this 
beneficent work, sections and races should be 
forgotten, and partisanship should be unknown. 
Let our people find a new meaning in the Divine 
oracle which declares that " a little child shall lead 
them," for our little children will soon control the 
destinies of the republic. 

My countrymen, we do not now differ in our 
judgment concerning the controversies of past 
generations, and fifty years hence our children 
will not be divided in their opinions concerning 
our controversies. They will surely bless their 
fathers and their fathers' God that the Union was 
preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that 
both races were made equal before the law.. We 
may hasten or we may retard, but we cannot pre- 
vent the final reconciliation. Is it not possible 
for us now to make a truce with time by anticipat- 
ing and accepting its inevitable verdict? Enter- 
prises of the highest importance to our moral and 
material well-being invite us and offer ample scope 
for the employment of our best powers. Let all 
our people, leaving behind them the battle-fields 
of dead issues, move forward, and in the strength 
of liberty and the restored Union win the grander 
victories of peace. 



488 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

The prosperity which now prevails is without 
a parallel in our history ; fruitful seasons have 
done much to secure it, but they have not done all. 
The preservation of the public credit and the re- 
sumption of specie payments, so successfully at- 
tained by the administration of my predecessor, 
has enabled our people to secure the blessings 
which the seasons brought. By the experience of 
commercial nations in all ages it has been found 
that gold and silver afford the only safe foundation 
for a monetary system. Confusion has recently 
been created by variations in the relative value 
of the two metals. But I confidently believe that 
arrangements can be made between the leading 
commercial nations which will secure the general 
use of both metals. Congress should provide that 
the compulsory coinage of silver, now required by 
law, may not disturb our monetary system by 
driving either metal out of circulation. If possi- 
ble, such an adjustment should be made that the 
purchasing power of every coined dollar will be 
exactly equal to its debt-paying power in all the 
markets of the world. The chief duty of the 
national government in connection with the cur- 
rency of the country is to coin and declare its 
value. Grave doubts have been entertained 
whether Congress is authorized by the Constitu- 
tion to make any form of paper money legal 
tender. The present issue of United States notes 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 489 

has been sustained by the necessities of war, but 
such paper should depend for its value and cur- 
rency upon its convenience in use, and its prompt 
redemption in coin at the will of its holder, and 
not upon its compulsory circulation. These notes 
are not money, but promises to pay money if the 
holders demand it. These promises should be 
kept. 

The refunding of the national debt at a lower 
rate of interest should be accomplished without 
compelling the withdrawal of the national bank 
notes and thus disturbing the business of the 
country. I venture to refer to the position I have 
occupied on financial questions during a long- 
service in Congress, and to say that time and ex- 
perience have strengthened the opinions I have so 
often expressed on these subjects. The finances 
of the government shall suffer no detriment which 
it may be possible for my administration to pre- 
vent. 

The interests of agriculture deserve more 
attention from the government than they have yet 
received. The farms of the United States afford 
homes and employment for more than one-half our 
people, and furnish much the largest part of all 
our exports. As the government lights our coasts 
for the protection of mariners and the benefit of 
commerce, so it should give to the tillers of the 
soil the lights of practical science and experience. 



490 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEEVICES OF 

Our manufactures are rapidly making us indus- 
trially independent, and are opening to capital and 
labor new and profitable fields of employment. 
This steady and healthy growth should still be 
maintained. Our facilities for transportation should 
be promoted by the continued improvement of our 
harbors and great interior waterways, and by the 
increase of our tonnage on the ocean. The 
development of the world's commerce has led to 
an urgent demand for shortening the creat sea 
voyage around Cape Horn, by constructing ship 
canals or railways across the isthmus which unites 
the two continents. Various plans to this end 
have been suggested, and will need consideration, 
but none of them have been sufficiently matured 
to warrant the United States in extending pecu- 
niary aid. The subject, however, is one which 
will immediately engage the attention of the 
government, with a view to a thorough protection 
to American interests. "We will urge no narrow 
policy, nor seek peculiar or exclusive privileges 
on any commercial route, but, in the language of 
my predecessor, I believe it to be the right and 
duty of the United States to assert and maintain 
such supervision and authority over any inter- 
oceanic canal across the isthmus that connects 
North and South America, as will protect our 
national interests. 

The Constitution guarantees absolute religious 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 491 

freedom. Congress is prohibited from making 
any law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The 
territories of the United States are subject to the 
direct legislatiye authority of Congress, and hence 
the general government is responsible for any 
violation of the Constitution in any of them. It 
is therefore a reproach to the government, that in 
the most populous of the territories the consti- 
tutional guarantee is not enjoyed by the people, 
and the authority of Congress is set at naught. 
The Mormon Church not only offends the moral 
sense of mankind by sanctioning polygamy, but 
prevents the administration of justice through the 
ordinary instrumentalities of law. In my judg- 
ment, it is the duty of Congress, while respecting 
to the uttermost the conscientious convictions and 
religious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit, 
within its jurisdiction, all immoral practices, 
especially of that class which destroy the family 
relations and endanger social order. Nor can any 
ecclesiastical organization be safely permitted to 
usurp, .in the smallest degree, the functions and 
powers of the national government. 

The civil service can never be placed on a 
satisfactory basis, until it is regulated by law. 
For the good of the service itself, for the protec- 
tion of those who are entrusted with this appointing 
power, against the waste of time and obstruction 



492- LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

to the public business, caused by the inordinate 
pressure for place, and for the protection of 
incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at 
the proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of 
the minor offices of the several executive depart- 
ments, and prescribe the grounds upon which 
removals shall be made during terms for which 
incumbents have been appointed. 

Finally, acting always within the authority 
and limitations of the Constitution, invading 
neither the rights of the States nor the reserved 
rights of the people, it will be the purpose of my 
administration to maintain its authority, and in all 
places within its jurisdiction to enforce obedience 
to all laws of the Union in the interest of the 
people, to demand rigid economy in all expendi- 
tures of the government, and to require the 
honest and faithful service of all executive officers, 
remembering that the offices were created, not for 
the benefit of the incumbents or their supporters, 
but for the service of the government. And now, 
fellow citizens, I am about to assume the great 
trust which you have committed to my hands. I 
appeal to you for that earnest and thoughtful 
support, which makes this government, in fact as 
it is in law, a government of the people. I shall 
greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of 
Congress, and of those who may share with me 
the responsibilities and duties of administration ; 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 493 

and above all, upon our efforts to promote the 
welfare of this great people and their government, 
I reverentially invoke the support and blessings of 
Almighty God. 



494 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 



ADDENDA. 



I. 

Headquarters Dept. of the Cumberland, 

Murfreesboro, June 12, 1864. 

General: In your confidential letter of the 8th 
inst., to the corps and division commanders and 
generals of cavalry, of this army, there were sub- 
stantially five questions propounded for their con- 
sideration and answer, viz : — 

1. Has the enemy of our front been materially 
weakened by detachments to Johnston, or else- 
where ? 

2. Can this army advance on him at this time, 
with strong reasonable chances of fighting a great 
and successful battle ? 

3 V . Do you think an advance of our army at 
present likely to prevent additional reinforce- 
ments being sent against General Grant by the 
enemy in our front ? 

4. Do you . think an immediate advance of the 
army advisable ? 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 495 

5. Do you think an early advance advisable? 

Many of the answers to these questions are not 
categorical, and cannot be clearly set down either 
as affirmative or negative. Especially in answer 
to the first question, there is much indeiiniteness 
resulting from the difference of judgment as to 
how great a detachment could be considered a 
material reduction of Bragg' s strength. For ex- 
ample, one officer thinks it has been reduced ten 
thousand and not "materially weakened." The 
answers to the second question are modified in 
some instances by the opinion that the rebels will 
fall back behind the Tennessee River, and thus no 
battle can be fought, either successful or unsuc- 
cessful. 

So far as these opinions can be stated in tabu- 
lar form, they will stand thus, — 

Yes. No. 

Answer to first question, . . • . 6 11 

" " second " ... 2 11 

" third " ... 4 10 

" fourth " ... - 15 

" fifth " ... - 2 

On the fifth question, three gave it as their 
opinion that this army ought to advance as soon as 
Vicksburg falls, should that event happen. The 
following is a summary of the reasons assigned 
why we should not at this time advance upon the 
enemy : — 



496 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

1. With Hooker's army defeated, and Grant's 
bending: all its energies in a yet undecided strusr- 
gle, it is bad policy to risk our only reserve army 
to the chances of a general engagement. A fail- 
ure here would have most disastrous effect on our 
lines of communication and on politics in the loyal 
States. 

2. We should be compelled to fight the enemy 
on his own grounds or follow him in a fruitless 
chase ; or, if we attempted to outflank him and 
turn his position, we should expose our line of 
communication, and run the risk of being pushed 
back into a rough country well known to the 
enemy and little to ourselves. 

3. In case the enemy should fall back without 
accepting battle he could make our advance very 
slow, and with a comparatively small force posted in 
the gaps of the mountains could hold us back 'while 
he crossed the Tennessee River, where he would be 
measurably secure and free to send reinforcements 
to Johnston. His force in East Tennessee could 
seriously harass our left flank and constantly dis- 
turb our Communication. 

4'. The withdrawal of Burnside's ninth army 
corps deprives us of an important reserve and flank 
protection, thus increasing the difficulty of an ad- 
vance. 

5. General Hurlburt has sent the most of his 
force away to General Grant, thus leaving West 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 497 

Tennessee uncovered, and laying our right flank 
and rear open to raids of the enemy. 

The following incidental opinions are ex- 
pressed, — 

1 . One officer thinks it probable that the enemy 
has been strengthened rather than weakened, and 
that he (the enemy) would have reasonable pros- 
pect of victory in a general battle. 

2. One officer believes the result of a general 
battle would be doubtful, a victory barren, and a 
defeat most disastrous. 

3. Three officers believe that an advance would 
bring on a general engagement. Three others be- 
lieve it would not. 

4. Two officers express the opinion that the 
chances of success in a general battle are -nearly 
equal. 

5. One officer expresses the belief that our 
army has reached its maximum strength and effi- 
ciency, and that inactivity will seriously impair its 
effectiveness. 

6. Two officers say that an increase of our 
cavalry by about six thousand men would mate- 
rially change the aspect of our affairs, and give us 
a decided advantage. 

In addition to the above summary, I have the 
honor to submit an estimate of the strength of 
Bragg' s army, gathered from all the data I have 
been able to obtain, including the estimate of the 



498 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

general commanding, in his official report of the 
battle of Stone River, and facts gathered from 
prisoners, deserters, and refugees, and from rebel 
newspapers. After the battle Bragg consolidated 
many of his decimated regiments and irregular 
organizations ; and at the time of his sending 
reinforcements to Johnston, his army had reached 
the greatest effective strength. It consisted of 
five divisions of infantry, composed of ninety-four 
regiments, and two independent battalions of 
sharp-shooters, — say ninety-five regiments. By a 
law of the confederate Congress, regiments are 
consolidated when their effective strength falls 
below two hundred and fifty men. Even the 
regiments formed by such consolidation (which 
may reasonably be regarded as the fullest) must 
fall below five hundred. I am satisfied that four 
hundred is a large estimate of the average 
strength. 

The force, then, would be, — 

Infantry, 95 regiments, 400 each, . . "8,000 
Cavalry, 35 regiments, say 500 each, . 17,500 

Artillery, 26 batteries, say 100 each, . 2,000 

Total 58, COO 

This force has been reduced by detachments to 
Johnston. It is as well known as we can ever 
expect to ascertain such facts, that three brigades 
have gone from McConn's division, and two or 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 499 

three from Breckinridge's, — say two. It is clear 
that there are now but four infantry divisions in 
Bragg's army, the fourth being composed of frag- 
ments of McColm's and Breckinridge's divisions, 
. nd must be much smaller than the average. 
Deducting the five brigades, and supposing them 
composed of only four regiments each, which is 
below the general average, it gives an infantry 
reduction of twenty regiments, four hundred each 
— eight thousand — leaving a remainder of thirty 
thousand. It is clearly ascertained that at least 
two brigades of cavalry have been sent from Van 
Dorn's command to the Mississippi, and it is as- 
serted in the Chattanooga Rebel, of June 11th, 
that General Morgan's command has been .perma- 
nently detached and sent to eastern Kentucky. 
It is not certainly known how large his division is, 
but it is known to contain at least two brigades. 
Taking this minimum as the fact, we have a cav- 
alry reduction of four brigades. 

Taking the lowest estimate, four regiments to 
the brigade, we have a reduction, by detachment, 
of sixteen regiments, five hundred each, leaving 
his present effective cavalry force nine thousand 
five hundred. With the nine brigades of the two 
arms thus detached, it will be safe to say there 
have gone, — 



500 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Six batteries, 80 men each, . . . 480 

Leaving him 20 batteries, . . . 2,120 

Making a total reduction of 16,480 

Leaving, of the three arms, . . . 41,680 

In this estimate of Bragg's strength, I have 
placed all doubts in his favor, and I have no ques- 
tion that my estimate is considerably beyond the 
truth. General Sheridan, who has taken great 
pains to collect evidence on this point, places it 
considerably below these figures. But assuming 
these to be correct, and granting what is still 
more improbable, that Bragg would abandon all 
his rear posts, and entirely neglect his communi- 
cations, and could bring his last man into battle, I 
next ask : What have we with which to oppose 
him ? 

The last official report of effective strength now 
on file in the office of the assistant adjutant-gen- 
eral, is dated from June 11th, and shows that we 
have in this department, omitting all officers and 
enlisted men attached to department, corps, divi- 
sion and brigade headquarters, — 

1. Infantry — One hundred and seventy-three 
regiments ; ten battalions sharp-shooters ; four 
battalions pioneers ; and one regiment of engi- 
neers and mechanics, with a total effective 
strength of seventy thousand nine hundred and 
eighteen. 

2. Cavalry — Twenty-seven regiments and one 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



501 



unattached company, eleven thousand eight hun- 
dred and thirteen. 

3. Artillery — Forty-seven and a half batteries 
field artillery, consisting of two hundred and 
ninety-two guns and five hundred and sixty-nine 
men, — making a general total of eighty-seven 
thousand eight hundred. 

Leaving out all commissioned officers, this army 
represents eighty-two thousand seven hundred 
and sixty-seven bayonets and sabres. This report 
does not include the Fifth Iowa cavalry, six hun- 
dred strong, lately armed ; nor the First Wisconsin 
cavalry ; nor Coburn's brigade of infantry, now 
arriving ; nor the two thousand three hundred and 
ninety-four convalescents, now on light duty in 
"Fortress Monroe." 

There are detached from this force as follows, — 



At Galatin, 
At Carthage, 
At Fort Donelson, 
At Clarkesville, 
At Nashville, . 
At Franklin, 
At Lavergne, 




969 
1,149 
1,485 
1,138 
7,292 

900 
2,117 



Total, 15,130 



With these posts as they are, and leaving two 
thousand five hundred efficient men, in addition to 
the two thousand three hundred and ninety-four 



502 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

convalescents, to hold the works at this place, 
there will be left sixty-five thousand one hundred 
and thirty-seven bayonets and sabres to show, 
against Bragg's forty-one thousand six hundred 
and eighty. 

I bes; leave, also, to submit the folio wins: con- 
siderations, — 

1. Bragg's army is weaker now than it has 
been since the battle of Stone River, or is likely to 
be, at present ; while our army has reached its 
maximum strength, and we have no right to ex- 
pect reinforcements for several months, if at all. 

2. Whatever be the result at Vicksburg, the 
determination of its fate will give large reinforce- 
ments to Bragg. If Grant is successful, his army 
will require many weeks to recover from the 
shock and strain of his late campaign, while 
Johnston will send back to Bragg a force sufficient 
to insure the safety of Tennessee. If Grant fails, 
the same result will inevitably follow, so far as 
Bragg's army is concerned. 

3. No man can predict, with a certainty, the 
results of any battle, however great the disparity 
in numbers. Such results are in the hand of God. 
But, reviewing the question in the light of human 
calculation, I refuse to entertain a doubt that this 
army, which in January last defeated Bragg's 
superior numbers, cannot overwhelm his present 
greatly inferior forces. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 503 

4. The most unfavorable course for us that 
Bragg could take, would be to fall back without 

Co 

giving us battle ; but this would be very disastrous 
to him. Besides the loss of material of war, and 
the abandonment of the rich and abundant harvest, 
now nearly ripe in Central Tennessee, he would 
lose heavily by desertion. It is well known that 
a wide-spread dissatisfaction exists among his 
Kentucky and Tennessee troops. They are already 
deserting in large numbers. A retreat would 
greatly increase both the desire and the opportunity 
for desertion, and would very materially reduce 
his physical and moral strength. While it would 
lengthen our communication, it would give us 
possession of McMinnville, and enable us to 
threaten Chattanooga and East Tennessee ; and it 
would not be unreasonable to expect an early 
occupation of the former place. 

5. But the chances are more than even that a 
sudden and rapid movement would compel a 
general engagement, and the defeat of Bragg 
would be, in the highest degree, disastrous to the 
rebellion. 

6. The turbulent aspect of politics in the loyal 
States renders a decisive blow against the enemy, 
at this time, of the highest importance to the 
success of the government at the polls, and in the 
enforcement of the Conscript Act. 

7o The government and the War Department 



504 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

believe that this army ought to move upon the 
enemy. The army desire it, and the country is 
anxiously hoping for it. 

8. Our true objective point is the rebel army, 
whose last reserves are substantially in the field, 
and an effective blow will crush the shell, and soon 
be followed by the collapse of the rebel govern- 
ment. 

9. You have, in my judgment, wisely dela}^ed 
a general movement hitherto, till your army could 
be massed, and your cavalry could be mounted. 
Your mobile force can now be concentrated in 
twenty-four hours, and your cavalry, if not equal 
in numerical strength to that of the enemy, is 
greatly superior in efficiency and morale. For 
this reason I believe an immediate advance of all 
our available forces is advisable, and, under the 
providence of God, will be successful. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. A. Garfield, 
Brigadier-General, Chief of Staff. 

Major-General Roseckans, 

Commanding Dept. of Cumberland. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 505 



n. 

The following is the official record of the post-mortem exami- 
nation of the body of President James A. Garfield, 
made Sept. 20, 1881, commencing at 4.30 P. M. eighteen 
hours after death, at Francklyn Cottage, Elberon,N.J. 

There were present and assisting, Dr. D. W. 
Bliss ; Surgeon-General J. K. Barnes, IT. S. A. ; 
Surgeon J. J. Woodward, U. S. A. ; Dr. Robert 
Eeyburn ; Dr. Frank H. Hamilton ; Dr. D. Hayes 
Agnew ; Dr. Andrew H. Smith, of Elberon and 
New York, and acting as the assistant surgeon, 
and D. S. Lamb, of the Army Medical Museum, 
Washington, D. C. 

Before commencing the examination a consulta- 
tion was held by the physicians in the room adjoin- 
ing that in which the body lay, and it was unani- 
mously agreed that the dissection should be made 
by Dr. Lamb, and that Surgeon Woodward should 
record the observations made. It was further 
unanimously agreed that the cranium should not 
be opened. Surgeon Woodward then proposed 
that the examination should be conducted as fol- 
lows : That the body should be viewed externally, 
and any morbid appearances existing recorded; 



506 LIFE AND TUBLIC SERVICES OF 

that a catheter should then he passed into the 
wound, as was done during life to wash it out, for 
the purpose of assisting to find the position of the 
bullet ; that a I0112; incision should next be made 
from the superior extremity of the sternum to the 
pubis, and this crossed by a transverse one just 
below the umbilicus ; that the abdominal flaps 
thus made should then be turned back and the 
abdominal viscera examined ; that after the abdom- 
inal cavity was opened, the position of the bullet 
should lie ascertained, if possible, before making 
any further incision, and that, finally, the thoracic 
viscera should be examined. This order of pro- 
cedure was unanimously agreed to, and the exami- 
nation was proceeded •with. 

The following external appearances were first 
observed : The body was considerably emaciated, 
but the face was much less wasted than the limbs. 
A preservative fluid had been injected by the em- 
balmer a few hours before into the left femoral 
artery. The pipes used for the purpose were still 
in position. The anterior surface of the body pre- 
sented no abnormal appearances, and there was no 
ecchymosis or other discoloration of any part of 
the front of the abdomen. Just below the right 
ear, and a little behind it, there was an oval ulcer- 
ated opening about half an inch in diameter, from 
which some sanious pus was escaping, but no 
tumefaction could be observed in the parotid 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 507 

region. A considerable number of purpura-like 
spots were scattered thickly over the left scapula, 
and thence forward as far as the axilla. They ranged 
from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in diam- 
eter, were slightly elevated and furfuraceous on 
the surface, and many of them were confluent in 
groups of two to four or more. A similar, but 
much less abundant, eruption was observed sparse- 
ly scattered over the corresponding region on the 
right side. An oval excavated ulcer, about an 
inch long, the result of a small carbuncle, was 
seated over the spinous process of the tenth dorsal 
vertebra. Over the sacrum there were four small 
bed sores, the largest about half an inch in diam- 
eter. A few acute pustules and a number of 
irregular spots of post-mortem hypostatic conges- 
tion were scattered over the shoulders, back and 
buttocks. The inferior part of the scrotum was 
much discolored by hypostatic congestion. A 
group of hemorrhoidal tumors rather larger than 
a walnut protruded from the anus. The depressed 
cicatrix of the wound made by the pistol bullet 
was recognized over the tenth intercostal space at 
three and a half inches to the right of the vertebral 
spines. A deep linear incision made in part by the 
operation of July 24, and extended by that of 
August 8, occupied a position closely correspond- 
ing to the upper border of the right twelfth rib. 
It commenced posteriorly about two inches from 



508 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

the vertebral spines and extended forward a little 
more than three inches. At the anterior extremity 
of this incision there was a deep, nearly square, 
abraded surface, about an inch across. A flexi- 
ble catheter, fourteen inches long, was then passed 
into this wound, as had been done to wash it 
out during life. More resistance was at first en- 
countered than had usually been the case, but after 
several trials the catheter entered without any vio- 
lence its full length. It was then left in position, 
and the body disposed supinely for the examina- 
tion of the viscera. The cranium was not opened. 
A long incision was made from the superior extre- 
mity of the sternum to the pubis, followed by a 
transverse incision crossing the abdomen, just below 
the umbilicus. The four flaps thus formed were 
turned back, and the abdominal viscera exposed. 
The subcutaneous adipose tissue, divided by the 
incision, was little more than one-eighth of an inch 
thick over the thorax, but was thicker over the 
abdomen, being about a quarter of an inch thick 
along the linear alba and as much as half an inch 
thick towards the outer extremity of the transverse 
incision. On inspection of the abdominal viscera 
in situ, the transverse colon was observed to lie a 
little above the line of the umbilicus. It was 
firmly adherent to the anterior edge of the liver. 
The greater omentum covered the intestines pretty 
thoroughly from the transverse colon almost to 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 509 

the pubis. It was' still quite fat and was very 
much blackened by venous congestion. On both 
sides its lateral margins were adherent to the 
abdominal parietes opposite the eleventh and 
twelfth ribs. On the left side the adhesions were 
numerous, firm, well organized, and probably old. 
[A foot-note here says : These adhesions and the 
firm ones on the right side, as well as those of the 
spleen, possibly date back to an attack of chronic 
dysentery, from which the patient is said to have 
suffered during the civil war.] On the right side 
there were a few similar adhesions and a number 
of more delicate and probably recent ones. A 
mass of black, coagulated blood covered and con- 
cealed the spleen and the left margin of the greater 
omentum. On raising the omentum it was found 
that a blood mass extended through the left lumbar 
and iliac regions, and dipped down into the pelvis, 
in which there was some clotted blood and rather 
more than a pint of bloody fluid. [A foot-note 
here says : A large part of this fluid had probably 
transuded from the injection material of the em- 
balmer.] The blood coagula, having been turned 
out and collected, measured very nearly a pint. 
It was now evident that secondary hemorrhage 
had been the immediate cause of death, but the 
point from which the blood had escaped was not at 
once apparent. The omentum was not adherent to 
the intestines, which were moderately distended 



510 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP 

with gas. No intestinal adhesions were found other 
than those between the transverse colon and the 
liver, already mentioned. 

The abdominal cavity being now washed out as 
thoroughly as possible, a fruitless attempt w r as 
made to obtain some indication of the presence of 
the bullet before making any further incision. By 
pushing the intestines aside, the extremity of the 
catheter, which had been pressed into the wound, 
could be felt between the peritoneum and the 
right iliac fossa, but it had evidently doubled 
upon itself, and, although a prolonged search was 
made, nothing could be seen or "felt to indicate the 
presence of the bullet, either in that region or 
elsewhere. The abdominal viscera were then 
carefully removed from the body, placed in suit- 
able vessels and examined seriatim, with the fol- 
lowing result : The adhesions between the liver 
and the transverse colon proved to bound an 
abscess cavity between the under surface of the 
liver, the transverse colon and the transverse meso- 
colon, which involved the gall-bladder, and ex- 
tended to about the same distance on each side of 
it, measuring six inches transversely, and four 
inches from before backward. This cavity was 
lined by a thick pyogenic membrane, which com- 
pletely replaced the capsule of that part of the 
under surface of the liver occupied by the abscess. 
It contained about two ounces of greenish-yellow 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 511 

fluid, a mixture of pus and biliary matter. This 
abscess did not involve any portion of the sub- 
stance of the liver, except the surface with which 
it was in contact. No communication could be 
traced between it and any part -of the wound. 
Some recent peritoneal adhesions existed between 
the upper surface of the right lobe of the liver 
and the diaphragm. The liver was larger than nor- 
mal, weighing eighty-four ounces ; its substance was 
firm, but of a pale yellowish color on its surface, 
and throughout the interior of the organ, from 
fatty degeneration.. No evidence that it had been 
penetrated by the bullet could be found, nor were 
there any abscesses or infractions in any part of 
its tissue. The spleen was connected to the dia- 
phragm by Arm, probably old, peritoneal adhe- 
sions. There were several rather deep congenial 
fissures in its margins, giving it a lobulated appear- 
ance. It was abnormally large, weighing eighteen 
ounces, of a very dark, lake-red color. Its par- 
enchyma was soft and flabby, but contained no 
abscesses or infractions. There were some recent 
peritoneal adhesions between the posterior wall of 
the stomach and the posterior abdominal parietes. 
With this exception, no abnormities were discov- 
ered in the stomach or intestines, nor were any 
other evidences of general or acute peritonitis 
found besides those already specified. The right 
kidney weighed six ounces, the left kidney seven. 



512 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

Just beneath the capsule of the left kidney, at 
about the middle of its convex border, there was a 
little abscess one-third of an inch in diameter. 
There were three small serous cysts on the convex 
border of the right kidney, just beneath its cap- 
sule. In other respects the tissue of both kidneys 
was normal in appearance and in texture. The 
urinary bladder was empty. Behind the right 
kidney, after the removal of that organ from the 
body, the dilated track of the bullet was discov- 
ered. It was found that, from the point at which 
it had fractured the right eleventh rib, three 
inches and a half to the right of the vertebral 
spines, the missile had gone to the left obliquely 
forward, passing through the body of the first 
lumbar vertebra, and lodging in the adipose collec- 
tive tissue, immediately below the lower border of 
the pancreas, about two inches and a half to the 
left of the spinal column, and behind the perito- 
neum. It had become completely encysted. The 
track of the bullet between the point at which it 
had fractured the eleventh rib and that at which 
it entered the first lumbar vertebra was consider- 
ably dilated, and the pus had burrowed down- 
Avard through the adipose tissue behind the right 
kidney, and thence had found its way between the 
peritoneum and the right iliac fossa, making a de- 
scending channel, which extended almost to the 
groin. The adipose tissue behind the kidney, in 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 513 

the vicinity of the descending channel, was much 
thickened and condensed by inflammation. In the 
channel, which was found almost free from pus, lay 
the flexible catheter introduced into the wound at 
the commencement of the autopsy. Its extremity 
was found doubled upon itself immediately be- 
neath the peritoneum, reposing upon the iliac 
fossa, where the channel was dilated into a pouch 
of considerable size. This long descending chan- 
nel, now clearly seen to have been caused by the. 
burrowing of pus from the wound, was supposed,, 
during life, to have been the track of the bullet. 
The last dorsal, together with the first and second 
lumbar vertebra and the twelfth rib, were then re- 
moved from the body for more thorough examina- 
tion. When this examination was made, it was. 
found that the bullet had penetrated the first lum- 
bar vertebra in the upper part of the right side of 
the bod}\ The aperture by which it entered the 
intervertebral cartilage next above, was situated 
just below and anterior to the intervertebral fora- 
men, from which the upper margin was about one- 
quarter of an inch distant. Passing obliquely to 
the left, and forward through the upper part of 
the body of the first lumbar vertebra, the bullet 
emerged by the aperture, the centre of which was 
about half an inch to the left of the median line, 
and which also involved the intervertebral carti- 
lasre next above. The cancellated tissue of the: 



514 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

body of the first lumbar vertebra was very much 
comminuted, and the fragments somewhat dis- 
placed. Several deep fissures extended from the 
track of the bullet into the lower part of the body 
of the twelfth dorsal vertebra. Others extended 
through the first lumbar vertebra into the interver- 
tebral cartilage, between it and the second lumbar 
vertebra. Both this cartilage and the next above 
were partly destroyed by ulceration. A number 
of minute fragments from the fractured lumbar 
vertebra had been driven into the adjacent soft 
parts. It was further found that the right twelfth 
rib also was fractured at a point one and a quarter 
inches to the right of the transverse process of the 
twelfth dorsal vertebra. This injury had not 
been recognized during life. On sawing through 
the vertebra, a little to the right of the median 
line, it was found that the spinal canal was not in- 
volved by the track of the ball. The spinal cord 
and other contents of this portion of the spinal 
canal presented no abnormal appearance. The 
rest of the spinal cord was not examined. Beyond 
the first lumbar vertebra, the bullet continued to 
go to the left, passing behind the pancreas to the 
point where it was found. Here it was enveloped 
in a firm cyst of connective tissues, which con- 
tained, beside the ball, a minute quantity of 
inspissated somewhat cheesy pus, which formed a 
thin layer of a portion of the surface of the lead. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 515 

There was also a black shred adherent to a part of 
the cyst wall, which proved, on microscopal exami- 
nation, to be v the remains of a blood clot. For 
about an inch from this cyst, the track of the ball 
behind the pancreas was completely obliterated by 
the healing process. Thence as far backward as 
the body of the first lumbar vertebra the track 
was rilled with coagulated blood, which extended 
on the left into an irregular space rent in the ad- 
joining adipose tissue behind the peritoneum and 
above the pancreas. The blood had worked its 
way to the left, bursting finally through the perito- 
neum behind the spleen into the abdominal cavity. 
The rending of the tissues by the extravasation 
of this blood was undoubtedly the cause of the 
paroxysms of pain which occurred a short time 
before death. This mass of coagulated blood was 
of irregular form, and nearly as large as a man's 
fist. It could be distinctly seen from in front 
through the peritoneum, after the greater curva- 
ture of the stomach had been exposed by the dis- 
solution of the greater omentum from the stomach, 
and especially after some delicate adhesions be- 
tween the stomach and the part of the peritoneum 
covering the blood mass had been broken down by 
the fingers. From the relations of the mass, as 
thus seen, it was believed that the hemorrhage had 
proceeded from one of the mesenteric arteries ; 
but, as it was clear that a minute dissection would 



516 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

be required to determine the particular branch 
involved, it was agreed that the infiltrated tissues 
and the adjoining soft parts should be preserved 
for subsequent study. On the examination and 
dissection made in accordance with this agreement, 
it was found that the fatal hemorrhage proceeded 
from a rent, nearly four tenths of an inch long, in 
the main trunk of the splenic artery, two inches 
and a half to the left of the cceliac axis. The rent 
must have occurred at least several days before 
death, since the everted edges in the slit in the 
vessel were united by firm adhesions to the sur- 
rounding connective tissue, thus forming an almost 
continuous wall, bounding the adjoining portion of 
the blood clot. Moreover, the peripheral portion 
of the clot in this vicinity was disposed in pretty 
firm concentric layers. It was further found that 
the cyst below the lower margin of the pancreas, 
in which the bullet was found, was .situated three 
and one-half inches to the left of the cceliac axis. 
Beside the mass of coagulated blood just described, 
another about the size of a walnut was found in the 
greater omentum, near the splenic extremity of 
the stomach. The communication, if any, between 
this and the larger hemorrhagic mass could not be 
made out. 

The examination of the thoracic viscera resulted 
as follows : The heart weighed eleven ounces. All 
the cavities were entirely empty, except the right 






JAMES A.. GARFIELD. 517 

ventrical, in which a few shreds of soft reddish 
coagulated blood adhered to the internal surface. 
On the surface of the mitral valve there were sev- 
eral spots of fatty degeneration. With this ex- 
ception the cardiac valves were normal. The 
muscular tissues of the heart were soft and tore 
easily. A few spots of fatty degeneration existed 
in the lining membrane of the aorta, just above the 
semilunar valves, and a slender clot of fibrine was 
found in the aorta, where it was divided, about 
two inches from these valves, for the removal of 
the heart. On the right side slight pleuritic ad- 
hesions existed between the convex surface of the 
lower lobe of the lung and the costal pleura, and 
firm adhesions between the anterior edge of the 
lower lobe, the pericardium and the diaphragm. 
The right lung weighed thirty-two ounces. The 
posterior part of the fissure between its upper and 
lower lobes was congenitally incomplete. The 
lower lobe of the right lung Mas hypostatically con- 
gested, and considerable portions, especially toward 
its base, were the seat of broncho-pneumonia. The 
bronchial tubes contained a considerable quantity 
of stringy mucous pus. Their mucous surface was 
reddened by catarrhal bronchitis. The lung tissue 
was cedematous. [A foot-note here says : A part 
at least of this condition was doubtless due to the 
extravasation of the injecting fluids by the em- 
balmer. But it contained no abscesses or infrac- 



518 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF 

tions.] On the left side the lower lobe of the lung 
was bound behind to the costal pleura, above to the 
upper lobe, and below to the diaphragm by pretty 
firm pleuritic adhesions. The left lung weighed 
twenty-seven ounces. The condition of its bron- 
chial tubes and of the lung tissues was very nearly 
the same as on the right side, the chief difference 
being that the area of broncho-pneumonia in the 
lower lobe was much less extensive in the left lun<r 
than in the right. In the lateral part of the lower 
lobe of the left lung, and about an inch from its 
pleural surface, there was a group of four minute 
areas of gray hepatization, each about one-eighth 
of an inch in diameter. There were no infrac- 
tions and no abscesses in any part of the lung 
tissue. 

The surgeons assisting at the autopsy were 
unanimously of the opinion that, in reviewing the 
history of the case in connection with the autopsy, 
it was quite evident that the different suppurating 
surfaces, and especially the fractured, spongy tis- 
sue of the vertebra, furnished a sufficient expla- 
nation of the septic conditions which existed during 
life. About an hour after the post-mortem exam- 
ination was completed the physicians named at the 
commencement of this report assembled for fur- 
ther consultation in an adjoining cottage. A brief 
outline of the results of the post-mortem examina- 
tion was drawn up, signed by all the physicians, 






JAMES A. GARFIELD. 519 

and handed to Private Secretary J. Stanley Brown, 
who was requested to furnish copies to the news- 
paper press. 

D. W. Bliss. 

J. K. Barnes. 

J. J. Woodward. , 

Robert Reyburn. 

D. S. Lamb. 

As the above report contains paragraphs detail- 
ing the observations made at Washington on the 
pathological specimens preserved for that purpose, 
the names of Drs. J. H. Hamilton, D. Hayes 
Agnew, and A. H. Smith, are not appended to it. 
It has, however, been submitted to them, and they 
have given their assent to the other portions of the 
report. 






New. publications. 



Egypt* occupied the geographical centre of the ancient 
world. It was fertile and attractive. Its inhabitants were 
polished, cultivated, and warlike. Its great cities were cen- 
tres of wealth and civilization, and from the most distant 
countries came scholars and travellers to learn wisdom under 
Egyptian masters and study the arts, sciences and govern- 
mental policy of the country. While surrounding nations 
were sunk in primitive barbarism Egypt shone as the patron 
of arts and acquirements. With a natural thirst for con* 
quest she introduced a system of military taclics which 
made her armies almost invincible. Her wisdom was a 
proverb among the surrounding nations. "If a philoso- 
pher," says Wilkinson, " sought knowledge, Egypt was the 
school; if a prince required a physician it was to Egypt thai 
he applied : if any material point perplexed the decision of 
Kings or councils, to Egypt it was referred, and the arms of 
a Pharaoh were the hope and frequently the protection, even 
at a late period, of a less powerful ally. It would surprise 
many readers to know how much in customs, social and 
religious, has come down to us from this- ancient people. 
Placing the ring on the bride's finger at marriage is an in- 
stance. The Egyptian gold pieces were in the form of rings, 
and the husband placed one on the finger of his wife as an 
emblem of the fact that he entrusted her henceforth with 
all his property. The celebration of Twelfth Day and Cand- 
lemas are Egyptian festivals under different names. The 
Catholic priest shaves his head because the Egyptian priests 
did the same ages before; the English clergyman reads the 
liturgy in a linen dress because linen was the dress of the 
Egyptians, and more than two thousand years before the 
bishop of the Church of Rome pretended to hold the keys 
of heaven and hell there was a priest in Egypt whose title 
was the Appointed Keeper of the Two Doors of Heaven. 

It is not strange that the story of this people and country 
should be so fascinating. There is an element of the mys- 
terious in it which attracts even the reader who does not 
care for historical reading in general. In the preparation 
of her work Mrs. Clement has not only had the advantage 
of extensive reading upon the subject, but of personal travel 
and knowledge. "She has skilfully condensed the vast 
amount of material at her command, and presents to the 
readina; public a volume which needs only to be examined 
to become a standard. 

• Egypt. By Mrs. Clara Erskine Clement. Lothrop's Library of Enter- 
aining History. Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. Price $ 1.50. 



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SOLDIERS AND PATRIOTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLU- 
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Every library should be furnished with this series of American Histories. — 
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youth. — Portland Transcript. 

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All published uniform with this volume. Price $1.25 each. Sold by all 
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NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



The Young Folks' Bible History. By Charlotte M. 
Yonge. Boston: D.Lothrop& Co. Price $1.50. The pres- 
ent volume is not only important in itself, but it is an addi- 
tional proof of the wonderful versatility of the author. 
The same hand that so successfully set before young readers 
the stories of the growth and development of the different 
countries of Europe, here puts the grand old Bible story 
Into a form which the youngest readers can easily compre- 
hend. The language is simple and the facts are told in 
modern style; one great stumbling-block to the understand- 
ing being thus removed. Beginning with the account of the 
creation, succeeding chapters carry along the Scriptural rec- 
ord to the time of the prophets, and from their day down to 
the appearance of the Saviour upon the earth. The life and 
teachings of Jesus are especially dwelt upon. The volume 
is profusely illustrated with drawings by English artists. We 
cannot too cordially commend the plan of this work, nor the 
excellent manner in* which it is carried out. It will be found 
not only valuable for home teaching, but for use in the in- 
fant classes of Sunday-schools. 

The New York Tribune in a notice of Amanda B. Harris's 
"How We Went Birds' -nesting " says: "It is written with 
charming simplicity of style, and its ornithology is taken 
directly from nature and not from books. There is some- 
thing of the spirit of adventure in the book, and as the 
youthful reader of dime novels is filled with a desire to go 
out West and hunt Indians, so the boys and girls who read 
this little volume will be prompted to visit the haunts of the 
birds and will have their powers of observation directed and 
sharpened." 



BOOKS FOR CLERGYMEN. 

Prof. Austin Phelps, of Andover, says of the late Rev. 
Neheniiah Adams: "It is the charm of Dr. Adams's style 
and method in preaching, that truth fitted by its profound- 
ness to the most thoughtful hearers, is made clear to the 
most illiterate. Few men have adorned the American 
pulpit with a broader reach in adaptation to different 
classes of mind." — We cannot commend too warmly the 
volumes which contain the selected discourses of Dr. 
Adams They are full of meat, and will he invaluable to 
clergymen as models of style and thought. At Eventide, 
published two or three years since, has won its way to a 
steady demand. Walks to Emmaus, the first volume of a 
proposed series of six, embraces two sermons for each Sab- 
bath of the entire year, and is adapted for the pulpit, the 
sick room or the library. Each of the six volumes now in 
preparation, to be issued every year or two, will be complete 
in itself, although forming a part of this work designed as 
"one year's discourses." Every evangelical minister, theo- 
logical student, and household should possess this crowning 
work of this eminent divine, and standard religious writer. 

Of other works of Dr. Adams which claim a place in every 
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book which the Congregationalist says: "We believe it will, 
go down the ages in company with Bunyan's Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress, Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living, and Baxter's Paint's 
Rest;" — The Communion Sabbath, '1 lie Friends of Christ 
and a companion volume, Christ a Friend. Broadcast is a 
collection of choice original thoughts admirably expressed. 
An edition of Dr. Adams's work in 11 volumes has been is- 
sued by the Messrs. Lothrop at $1.00 per volume. It in- 
cludes in addition to those already mentioned, Catherine, 
Endless Punishment, Bertha and her Baptism and The Cross 
in the Cell. 

Akin in aim and interest to Dr. Adams's works are Dr. 
Waylaud's volume of University sermons, Salvation by 
Christ; the Bremen Lectures on Fundamental Religious 
Questions, a new and enlarged edition; Rev. J. Chaplin's 
Memorial Hour; Tholnck's Hour's of Christian Devotion; 
Prof. Austin Phelps' Still Hour and New Birtli; The. Seven 
Words from the Cross, by Rev, W. H. Adams, and Butter- 
worth's Notable Prayers of Christian History. 



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Chips from the White House. — 12 mo. 486 pp. $1.50 
What the press says of it: 

In this handsome volume of five hundred pages have been 
brought together some of the most important utterances of 
our twenty presidents, carefully selected from speeches and 
addresses, public documents and private correspondence, 
:. id touching upon a large variety of subjects. — Golden 
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Most of the extracts are dated and accompanied by brief 
explanations of the circumstances under which they were 
written, and the voh.me, therefore, if judiciously read, will 
give a clearer idea of the character of the men than can be 
gathered elsewhere by reading a small library through.— 
New York Graphic. 

The selections are made with judgment and taste, and 
represent not only the political status of the distinguished 
writers, but also their social and domestic characteristics. 
The book is interesting in itself, and specially valuable as 
a convenient book of reference for students of American 
history. Its mechanical presentation is all that can be 
asked. — Providence Journal. 

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and services of its subject, and most of the extracts are dated, 
with brief explanations of the circumstances under which 
they were written. The work, in fact, is a handbook. It 
is convenient for reference of American history. It is 
printed in clear, large type, is tastefully and strongly bound, 
and is supplemented by a very full index. — Woman's Jour- 
nal, Boston. 

The book is thoroughly good ; none better could be 
placed in the hands of^oung persons. By the light of 
these they can see the reflection of the character of the 
grand men who have been called to rule over the Nation 
during its existence. No other nation ever had such a 
succession of rulers, where so few have proved failures.— 
Inter Ocean, Chicago. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



A Book of Golden Deeds, of all Times and Lands. 
Gathered and narrated by Charlotte M. Yonge. Illustrated. 
Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.25. The rapidly 
increasing popularity of this little volume, and the steady 
demand for it have induced the Messrs. Lothrop to bring 
out a new edition in handsome form and yet at a price 
which brings it within the reach of every reader. Excellent 
as are all Miss Yonge's books, there is not one which appeals 
so strongly to young readers as this collection of stories and 
traditions, gathered from many sources, and presented for 
the purpose of inculcating a love for what is noble and true 
in the minds of the young. The author's intention has been 
to make it a treasury, where may be found minuter particu- 
lars than are given in abridged histories, of the soul-stirring 
deeds that lend life and glory to the record of events, in the 
trust that example may inspire the spirit of heroism and 
self-devotion, and give proof that the highest object of ac- 
tion is not to win promotion, wealth or success, but simple 
duty, mercy and loving-kindness. Miss Yonge has chosen 
from history some of the most remarkable instances of 
moral and physical bravery, and has clothed them in lan- 
guage befitting her theme. Many of them are familiar, but 
we have never before seen them rendered in so charming a 
form, or in a manner where the true motive of action was so 
plainly and effectually brought out. The volume is printed 
in clear type, on good paper, and is attractively bound. 

Five Little Peppers ; and How They Grew. By Mar- 
garet Sidney. Thirty-six illustrations by Jessie Curtis. 
Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.50. Of all the new 
juveniles in this season's list there is not one which will be 
read with more delight by the little ones than this jolly 
story. It is a genuine child's book, written by one who 
understands and sympathizes with children. The incidents 
are just such as might have happened, and pathos and 
humor are skilfully mingled in their telling. The illustra- 
tions are charming, and worthy the reputation of the artist 



L 

New Publications. 7 

The Tempter Behind. By the Author of " Israel Mort, 
Overman." Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.25. Most 
readers of fiction will remember " Israel Mort, Overman," a 
book which created several years ago a profound sensation 
both in this country and in England. It was a work of in- 
tense strength and showed such promise on the part of the 
anonwnous author that a succeeding work from the same 
hand has ever since been anxiously looked for, in the belief 
that, should it be written, it would make a yet more decided 
impression. " The Tempter Behind," now just brought out 
in this country, shows that the estimate of the public as to 
the ability of the author was not too high. It is in every 
way a higher and stronger work, and one that cannot but 
have a marked effect wherever it is read. It is not merely an 
intensely interesting story; something more earnest than 
the mere excitement of incident underlies the book. It is 
the record of the struggles of a young and ambitious student 
against the demon of drink. He is an orphan — the ward of 
a rich uncle who proposes to settle his entire property upon 
him in case he conforms to his wishes. It is the desire of 
the uncle that he shall become a clergyman, a profession for 
which the young man has a strong and natural preference. 
Unknown to his uncle, he has formed the habit of social 
drinking at college from which he cannot extricate himself. 
Tbe terrible thirst for intoxicants paralyses bis will, and 
renders him a slave to the cup. Every effort, he makes is 
unsuccessful. He loses rank at college, and is afterward 
dismissed from his post as private secretary to an official of 
the government, on account of the neglect of his studies and 
duties, but without exposure. Ills uncle knows his failures, 
but not their cause, and demands that he either enter the 
ministerial profession for which he has prepared himself, or 
leave the shelter of his roof. The young man, who has too 
much principle to assume a position which he fears he may 
disgrace, does not confide in his uncle, and secretly departs 
from tin' house, leaving behind him a letter of farewell, de- 
termined to make one more trial by himself, and among 
strangers, to break the chains which bind him so closely. 
The story of his experiences, trials and temptations arc viv- 
idly and almost painfully told, with their results. The book 
needs no commendation. Through tbe enterprise of the 
publishers, it makes its first appearance in America, and 
will be brought out in London after its issue here. 



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